Spain beats US to seal semis spot
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Shanghai Daily, July 12, 2011
David Ferrer beat Mardy Fish 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (5) to seal Spain's Davis Cup quarterfinal win over the United States on Sunday, while defending champion Serbia advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 victory over Sweden.
Ferrer, who also beat Andy Roddick on Friday night, gave Spain an insurmountable 3-1 lead and a home semifinal against France - a replay of the 2010 final - in September.
Playing without world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, Spain had to overcome a rowdy pro-American crowd to earn its first Davis Cup victory in the US and continue its quest for a third title in four years.
"Spain have never beat USA in this country," Spain's non-playing captain Albert Costa said. "To win against Roddick, Fish and the Bryans, I think this is a great team.
"For us it's historic."
Spain had won Friday's two opening singles matches to seize control of the tie but the Americans gave themselves some hope of winning the best-of-five tie when the twins Bob and Mike Bryan won Saturday's doubles.
"I'm very proud of all the guys for all the efforts they put in all the matches. We definitely laid it all out there," US captain Jim Courier said.
"We were ahead in a lot of sets but that's never a guarantee against players that are strong and players that are professional."
Spain, which has won the Davis Cup four times, in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2009, hosts France in the semifinals after last year's runners-up beat Germany 4-1.
France beat Spain 5-0 in the quarterfinals last year and Costa said his players were determined to avenge that loss.
"We have a generation of players that they are unbelievable," Costa said. "So we have to try to take advantage of this and try to win as much as we can."
Defending champion Serbia had little trouble finishing off Sweden, winning both reverse singles on Sunday to secure a 4-1 victory and a semifinal against Argentina, which beat Kazakhstan 5-0. Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic skipped the singles to rest his sore left knee.
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