Day three

Lleyton Hewitt booked Australia a Davis Cup quarter final with Brazil with a straight sets victory over Nicolas Lapentti in the reverse singles at Royal Kings Park in Perth today.

Australia's top ranked singles player took 83 minutes to discard Ecuador's best 6-2 6-1 6-1.

Lapentti, who teamed with his younger brother Giovanni yesterday to topple Australia in an epic four hour doubles battle, was simply ran off the court by the plucky Adelaide baseliner.

"I was feeling pretty good this morning, I warmed up well and I was confident," Hewitt said.

"I served very well today, it is something my coach Darren Cahill has worked on and I have been improving.

"It is an area I have to keep improving on if I want to stay in the top 10."

Pat Rafter was given the option by Australian coach John Fitzgerald to play in the second reverse singles against Giovanni Lapentti and thrilled the Perth crowd by choosing to play.

Australia will now travel to Brazil in April for the quarter final against a Brazilian outfit hell-bent on revenging last year's humiliating 5-0 loss to the Aussies in Brisbane.

World No.1 Gustavo Kuerten hails from the Brazilian coastal city of Florianopolis where the tie is tipped to be held and the Australians can expect more of the fanatical crowd involvement they received in their final loss to Spain in Barcelona in December.

The Brazilians had little trouble discarding Morocco on clay in Rio de Janeiro this weekend where Kuerten and Fernando Meligini claimed singles victories before the doubles pairing of Jaime (Jaime) Oncins and Alexandre (Alexandre) Simoni closed out the tie.

Spain crashed out in the first round when the Netherlands secured a 3-0 lead after Dutch pair Paul Haarhuis and Sjeng Schalken beat Alex Corretja and Juan Balcells 4-6 6-3 7-6 7-6 in the doubles in Eindhoven.

Australia heads for Davis Cup hotspot

Sportal

Lleyton Hewitt took just 82 minutes to ensure Australia progressed to the Davis Cup quarter-final against Brazil with a convincing 6-2 6-1 6-1 victory against Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti in Perth. Pat Rafter then finished the job for a 4-1 victory to Australia with a 6-3 6-1 win against Giovanni Lapentti in the dead final rubber. But after the genteel surrounds of Royal Kings Park, Australia will once again be plunged into the melting pot against the passionate South American fans and slow clay courts. Brazilian number one Gustavo Kuerten hails from the coastal city of Florianopolis where the tie is tipped to be held in April and the Australians can expect more of the fanatical crowd involvement they received in their final loss to Spain in Barcelona in December. Australia defeated Brazil 5-0 in Brisbane last July. "Personally, I don't think it can get any worse than Spain, but a few people have mentioned it could be a couple of times worse than Spain," Hewitt said. "That will be interesting for us. I felt like I dealt with Spain a lot better than I dealt with Nice. "Hopefully, if I did make any little errors in Spain in such a big arena with so many people going against you, then maybe I can learn from that and do better in Brazil." In a boost for the Australians, Mark Philippoussis is set to make his comeback from post-Christmas knee surgery at an indoor tournament in Memphis next week. Australian coach Wally Masur said there might still be some way to go before they can entice Philippoussis back to Davis Cup action. "We haven't got too far ahead of ourselves," Masur said. "There's the issue with Mark. We're hoping he can play some tennis in coming events, get through it, and hopefully his knee is going to be okay. "We're hoping to establish a good line of communication there to check his availability and see how he is travelling with his knee." Rafter said he would be unconcerned by the behaviour of the Brazilian crowd, but believed good mate Kuerten would be able to calm the crowd down if things were getting out of hand. "I thought that was pretty embarrassing on their (the Spanish) behalf with the crowd," he said. "I think this will be another pretty full-on atmosphere and Lleyton gets fired up and he fires the crowd up as well, so they are probably going to be even more punchy. "I'll be going about my business as I do. but if they start throwing things as they have in the past things might get ugly." Earlier, Nicolas Lapentti was clearly fatigued after the magnificent four-hour doubles effort the previous day and he quickly ran out of steam against Hewitt. "I was feeling pretty good this morning, I warmed up well and I was confident," Hewitt said. "I served very well today, it is something my coach Darren Cahill has worked on and I have been improving. "It is an area I have to keep improving on if I want to stay in the top 10."

Brazilians tough nuts to crack 
By LINDA PEARCE (SportsToday)
Monday 12 February 2001

A day later than expected, Australia can turn its Davis Cup attention to the
quarter-final trip to Brazil in April. Even if they had an established
doubles team, and the Australians are some way from that ideal, assignments
do not come any tougher than this. John Fitzgerald and Wally Masur should
enjoy their honeymoon while it lasts.

Saturday's rude doubles interruption by the Lapentti brothers'
notwithstanding, captain Fitz-gerald and coach Masur's cup introduction came
almost gift-wrapped on the Perth grass. Neither needs to be told that the
Australians can ditch the welcome-roses-and-chocolates theme for their visit
to South America.

It will be thorny, yes, but the more traditional "presents" for visitors are
the missiles that have been known to be thrown on court and, as Thomas Muster
once discovered, mirrors used to deflect the sun into players' eyes. Masur
played once in Peru and remembers it dryly as an "exciting" time marked by
guerrilla death threats.

The infamous difficulties of playing on the developing tennis continent could
actually make Barcelona seem welcoming, and in Florianopolis, Gustavo
Kuerten's home town, it should be no different.

Yet, although the Brazilians are far more threatening at home on clay than
away on the grass on which they flopped 5-0 in last year's semi-final in
Brisbane, the Australians are not without hope. Their chance is to target
Kuerten's sidekick Fernando Meligeni, for the Brazilians lack singles depth
after the world No.1, and to improve on what has become a puzzlingly poor
doubles record.

In the past two years, Australia has won only two of the seven doubles ties
in which the team did not comprise old reliables Todd Woodbridge and Mark
Woodforde. Both victories involved Woodforde, who retired at the end of last
year: one with Pat Rafter, who remains an appealing doubles option, and the
other with the tried-but-failed Sandon Stolle.

Of course, much depends on the availability of Mark Philippoussis,
potentially one of the world's best clay-court players, as proved by his
spectacular efforts in the 1999 final in Nice. If he agrees to play in his
first tie since hobbling through the narrow escape in Zurich a year ago,
Fitzgerald will name Philippoussis, Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt as Australia's
three singles players, and probably chose Woodbridge - despite his
limitations on clay, and his patchy performance with Wayne Arthurs on
Saturday - as the doubles component of a talented and flexible squad that
contains three grand slam doubles winners.

For some time, such a quartet has been referred to unofficially in Australian
tennis as the `A' team, but for various injury and political reasons it has
not been available as a complete selection package since the Davis Cup rule
change last year introduced free reverse singles substitutions on the final
day.

Since starting in his new role in mid-December, Fitzgerald has made it a
priority to woo the estranged Philippoussis back to the squad, and it seems
that if anyone can convince him to return, it is the genial new skipper.
Everyone - with the possible exception of the Scud's coach Peter McNamara -
seems to be making the right noises so far, but we have learnt from bitter
experience never to rely on Philippoussis until the first ball is struck.

If, as suggested by McNamara in that interesting we'll-play-if-it-suits-us
interview late last year, Philippoussis and his minders decide that a visit
to Brazil does not fit in with his schedule, then clay-court experts Richard
Fromberg and Andrew Ilie could also come into the singles mix, perhaps
freeing Rafter for a doubles role.

A crucial one, it appears. The events of Saturday confirmed that Australia's
success in what tennis cliche decrees is the "pivotal" third rubber, is
likely to be the key factor in what looms as a daunting trip to Brazil. So
much for the grasscourt honeymoon. Time for a roll in inhospitable South
American dirt.

END--http://www.theage.com.au/sport/2001/02/12/

Aussies face tough test
From our wire services
11 February 01 (FoxSports-AUS)

AUSTRALIA faces one of the toughest possible Davis Cup assignments, a
quarter-final against Brazil in front of hostile crowds on slow clay courts,
after defeating Ecuador at Royal Kings Park in Perth today.
Australia advanced to the last eight after Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter
completed straight-set victories in the reverse singles to close out the
first-round tie 4-1.

Hewitt, the Australian No.1, took just 83 minutes to overwhelm former world
top-10 player Nicolas Lapentti 6-2 6-1 6-1 to seal the rubber.

Lapentti, who hadd teamed with younger brother Giovanni yesterday to topple
Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs in an epic four-hour doubles battle, was
simply run off the court by the plucky Adelaide baseliner.

Rafter later defeated Giovanni Lapentti 6-3 6-1 in the dead fifth rubber.

Australia may receive a boost in the form of Mark Philippoussis, who is set
to make his comeback from post-Christmas knee surgery at an $800,000 indoor
tournament in Memphis next week.

After the genteel surrounds of Royal Kings Park, Australia will be plunged
into the melting pot against on uncustomarily slow clay courts in front of
passionate fans.

Brazilian world No.1 Gustavo Kuerten hails from the coastal city of
Florianopolis, where the tie is tipped to be held, and the Australians can
expect more of the fanatical crowd involvement they received in their final
loss to Spain in Barcelona in December.

The Brazilians had little trouble disposing of Morocco on clay in Rio de
Janeiro this weekend, when Kuerten and Fernando Meligeni claimed singles
victories before the doubles pairing of Jaime Oncins and Alexandre Simoni
closed out the tie.

Hewitt admitted today he was not thrilled by the prospect of playing in
Brazil, but he said he believed his ability to perform in hostile surrounds
was continuously improving.

"Personally, I don't think it can get any worse than Spain, but a few people
have mentioned it could be a couple of times worse than Spain," Hewitt said.

"That will be interesting for us. I felt like I dealt with Spain a lot better
than I dealt with Nice.

"Hopefully, if I did make any little errors in Spain in such a big arena with
so many people going against you, then maybe I can learn from that and do
better in Brazil."

Australian coach Wally Masur conceded the quarter-final would be a tough
battle, particularly if played in Kuerten's home city.

However, Rafter said Kuerten was renowned as one of the most sporting players
on tour and would probably seek to supress any crowd behaviour that got out
of hand.

Masur conceded the Australians had struggled in the doubles since the
retirement of Woodbridge's long-term partner, Mark Woodforde, and may go into
the quarter-final with three singles players and Woodbridge should
Philippoussis be ready.

"We haven't got too far ahead of ourselves," he said.

"There's the issue with Mark. We're hoping he can play some tennis in coming
events, get through it, and hopefully his knee is going to be okay.

"We're hoping to establish a good line of communication there to check his
availability and see how he is travelling with his knee."

Hewitt welcomed Philippoussis's return, saying he would further strengthen
the side by providing greater options for both singles and doubles.

He suggested the players with the best head-to-head records against the
Brazilians could be chosen for the singles with the remaining player joining
Woodbridge in the doubles.

"A lot is going to come down to who plays better against the guys in
singles," he said.

Rafter said he had also heard the atmosphere in Brazil would be worse than
Spain, but he said he would not allow it to affect his performance.

"I thought that was pretty embarrassing on their [the Spanish] behalf with
the crowd," Rafter said of the final in Barcelona.

"I think this will be another pretty full-on atmosphere and Lleyton gets
fired up and he fires the crowd up as well, so they are probably going to be
even more punchy.

"I'll be going about my business as I do.

"But if they start throwing things as they have in the past, things might get
ugly."

Rafter said he would rely on his good friend Kuerten to keep the crowd at bay.

"'Guga' has a very good personality," he said.

"He's very calm and he can control the crowd if he wants to.

"I'm sure he'll do that because he's a very good sport as well, so Guga might
have to calm things down."

END--http://www.foxsports.com.au/
Australia Secures Place in Davis Cup Quarters
Perth, Feb. 11 (NEC Davis Cup Site)
 
Australia will travel to Brazil in April, to take on Brazil in the
quarterfinals of the Davis Cup by NEC. Australia secured its place in the
last eight when Lleyton Hewitt sealed the first round tie against Ecuador by
defeating Nicolas Lapentti in the first of the reverse singles with an
awesome display, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.

Then, in the last match, the dead reverse singles, Pat Rafter easily
accounted for Giovanni Lapentti 6-3, 6-1 to give Australia a final score of
4-1.

It was a day when everything turned to gold for Hewitt. He broke the Lapentti
serve in the very first game and then just went from strength to strength
with his returns. His serve was certainly a factor in the match and he was
able to pick up quite a few cheap points.

"It was one of those days and I felt like I drew confidence from two days ago
(first day's singles) when I played well," said Hewitt. "I knew this would be
a tough match but I was more focused and wanted to get the tie over with."

Hewitt said it was very important to get off to a good start. He could not
have asked for anything better and once he got the first few games under his
belt, Hewitt just got better and better.

The Australian led 5-1 in the first and it was quite evident that Lapentti
appeared lethargic, having played singles on the first day and then a doubles
match that was close to four hours, both times in hot conditions. He didn't
quite have a spring in his step and Hewitt just pounced on everything.

Again Hewitt was aggressive with his returns in the second set and in the
third he was smacking winners at will. Lapentti was a spent force as a
cracking forehand down the line won the match to give Australia the
unassailable 3-1 lead.

So Australia plays Brazil in April in the quarterfinals and Australian team
coach Wally Masur said there is plenty of water to cross before a team is
assembled to take on Brazil.

"It will be a different surface and we have to see how our players are
playing during the American tournament leading up to it," said Masur.
"Lleyton has come through so well, mentally he is the toughest player out
there and Fitzy (captain John Fitzgerald) and I feel very confident with
these players.

"We hope Mark (Philippoussis) can play tennis after his knee surgery. He is
playing Memphis and we have established a good line of communication. We have
to see how he is travelling so it's no point getting ahead of ourselves."

Hewitt, who has never been to South America before said he is curious about
the reports he has received in the past about the South American crowds.

"It's going to be extremely hard but I don't know if it can get worse than
Spain (the final last year in Barcelona) - but it will be interesting," said
Hewitt. "I dealt with Spain better than I dealt with Nice the year before and
I can learn from it."
Australian captain John Fitzgerald acknowledged as well that it is going to
be a very tough task to beat Brazil, but they believe they are in with a
chance.

"They have the number one clay court player in the world but we also have a
quality team," said Fitzgerald. "Mark Philippoussis is in with a chance to
play that that will be great - we will have him as added strength."

Rafter meanwhile dropped a bit of a bombshell after his match. He told the
huge crowd that he would be shaving his head bald and shaving off his beard
for charity. First he announces his retirement from the game at the end of
the year, then he decides to remove his trademark ponytail. What next for Pat
Rafter?
 
END--http://www.daviscup.org/daviscup.htm

Australia to play Brazil after beating Ecuador

PERTH, Australia, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Australia will face Brazil in the Davis
Cup quarter-finals after completing a 4-1 win over Ecuador by winning
Sunday's two reverse singles matches.

Teenager Lleyton Hewitt secured the tie for Australia when he beat Ecuador's
number one Nicolas Lapentti 6-2 6-1 6-1 in the first match.

Patrick Rafter, who had the option to stand down, then beat Lapentti's
younger brother Giovanni 6-3 6-1 in the dead fifth rubber to give Australia a
4-1 victory before announcing he planned to shave off his beard and long hair
for charity.

"It's got nothing to do with if I sweat or don't sweat or anything like
that," said Rafter, whose hopes of winning last month's Australian Open were
ruined when he suffered cramping in his semifinal with Andre Agassi.

"It's about raising some money for the kids."

The Lapentti brothers upset Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs in an epic
five-set doubles match on Saturday to keep the tie alive after losing both of
Friday's singles matches.

But the effort clearly drained them and they had little left on Sunday with
Nicolas conceding defeat to Hewitt in just 82 minutes.

The Australians will travel to South America in April to face the Brazilians
in a repeat of last year's semifinal in Brisbane.

Australia won that tie to reach the final against Spain but are expecting a
much tougher meeting this time round.

"Personally, I don't think it can get any worse than Spain, but a few people
have mentioned it could be a couple of times worse," Hewitt said.

"It will be interesting for us."

04:58 02-11-01

Aussies advance to quarters
11 February 2001
By Sports.com's MATTHEW BARBOUR

Australia cruised to the second round of the Davis Cup on Sunday after
Lleyton Hewitt defeated Nicolas Lapentti in the first of the reverse singles
with an awesome display of ground strokes, crushing the Ecuadorian 6-2, 6-1,
6-1.

In the last eight the 1999 champions and last year's runners up will next
face Brazil, who beat Morocco in the decisive doubles rubber on Saturday to
take an unassailable 3-0 lead.

Rubbing salt in the Ecuadorians' wounds after the Lapentti brothers had
clawed back a point in the doubles on Saturday, Patrick Rafter went on to
easily account for Giovanni Lapentti 6-3, 6-1 to give Australia a final score
of 4-1.

Hewitt seemed invincible throughout the match, breaking Lapentti's serve in
the very first game, returning serve with conviction beyond his 19 years and
consistently picking up cheap points from his much-improved service action.

"It was just one of those days when everything seemed to go right," he said.

"I felt like I drew confidence from two days ago (the first day's singles)
when I also played well. I knew this would be a tough match but I was more
focused and wanted to get the tie over with."

Aggressive play
The Australian led 5-1 in the first against an obviously lethargic Lapentti,
who had played singles on the first day and then a doubles match that was
close to four hours, both times in stiflingly hot conditions.

Again Hewitt aggressively pounced on everything in the second set and by the
third seemed to be notching-up winners at will. Lapentti appeared a broken
man as Hewitt sent a cracking forehand down the line to win the match and
give Australia the all-important 3-1 lead.

Despite the convincing display, Australian team coach Wally Masur said there
is still plenty of water to cross before a team is assembled to take on
Brazil.

"It will be a different surface and we have to see how our players are
playing during the American tournament leading up to it," he said. "Lleyton
has come through so well, mentally he is the toughest player out there and
Fitzy (team captain John Fitzgerald) and I feel very confident with these
players.

"We hope Mark (Philippoussis) can play tennis after his knee surgery. He is
definitely playing in Memphis and we have established a good line of
communication. We have to see how he is travelling so it's no point getting
ahead of ourselves."

Hewitt, who has never been to South America before said he is curious about
the reports he has received in the past about the South American crowds.

"It's going to be extremely hard but I don't know if it can get worse than
Spain (the final last year in Barcelona) - but it will be interesting," said
Hewitt. "I dealt with Spain better than I dealt with Nice the year before and
I can learn from it."

Australian captain John Fitzgerald acknowledged as well that it is going to
be a very tough task to beat Brazil, but they believe they are in with a
chance.

"They have the number one clay court player in the world but we also have a
quality team," Fitzgerald said. "Mark Philippoussis is in with a chance to
play that that will be great - we will have him as added strength."

Dazzling debut
Brazil's Alexandre Simoni, making his Davis Cup debut, and Cup stalwart Jaime
Oncins beat Hicham Arazi and Karim Alami 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to earn their meeting
with Australia.

Simoni replaced Brazil's top player Gustavo Kuerten, who was involved in a
marathon five-set tie against Alami on Friday.

"When Ricardo (Acioly) told me I was playing, I said I was ready. I was very
confident and it's an honour to represent Brazil," said Simoni.

Brazil needed less than two hours to wrap up the win on a miserable day for
Arazi.

The Moroccan, forced to retire hurt in Friday's singles against Fernando
Meligeni after suffering cramp, never found his touch and had his serve
broken five times.

French steamroller
Elsewhere in the first round, France took a 3-0 lead late on Saturday, the
experienced French pairing of Cedric Pioline and Fabrice Santoro
steamrollering Belgians Olivier Rochus and Tom van Houdt 6-3 6-2 7-6.

France won both singles matches on Friday, Arnaud Clement battling back to
beat Christophe Rochus 6-7 3-6 6-2 6-4 6-2 and Sebastien Grosjean overcoming
the younger Rochus brother, Olivier, 4-6, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.

"We showed some excellent quality in Friday's singles and we were pretty
solid in the doubles - all in all we looked pretty good," Santoro said.

France will play the winners of the Switzerland-United States tie.

Sweden ahead
Meanwhile, Sweden edged ahead of Czechoslovakia in their doubles showdown,
Bjorkman and Kulti comfortably defeating the pairing of Novac and Rikl 6-2,
4-6, 7-6, 7-5.
 
END--http://sl.sports.com/tennis/news/20