The American makeshift pairing of Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat the 2008 Olympic doubles winners Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and 18 minutes on Saturday.

Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan defeated Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka in the doubles tie

The United States thus clinched the tie 3-0 over Switzerland on indoor clay in Fribourg – the surface that Federer had picked to offset the net rushing play of Isner and Fish.

At the start of 2012, there were two major titles that are yet to be added to the Swiss master’s trophy cabinet-Davis cup title and Olympic singles gold. 2012 may well prove to be one of the best chances for Federer to win the Davis cup for Switzerland after Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer had opted out of Davis cup duty.

The match started badly for the Americans as Fish started with a double fault and lost serve. Serving for the first set at 5-4, Federer and Wawrinka were down 0-30 but fought back to win with a couple of strong volleys from Wawrinka to win the first set at 6-4. The second set saw Wawrinka lose serve in the sixth game committing two double faults. The American duo capitalized on that to pocket the set 6-3. The third set saw a frustrated Federer having a lengthy discussion with the umpire about a service line call that appeared to have caught the line. Losing focus, they dropped the game after leading 30-0 and Federer too dropped his serve serving down 3-5.

Thereafter both Federer and Wawrinka were unable to raise their level of play as the American pair emerged the stronger of the two and played an aggressive brand of tennis to dominate the exchanges at the net based on strong returns to win the fourth set at 6-3 again. After the match, Mike Bryan said that this was one of their most memorable wins beating Federer’s Switzerland away on clay. Bryan was part of the team that won the Davis Cup title in 2007.

Critics have pointed out that there was a question mark over Federer’s commitment when he played for his country and the fact that he has not been able to lead his team to the Davis cup title. Indeed Federer had not appeared for Switzerland in the world group on many occasions in the recent past focusing on his singles instead.

Some may argue that Switzerland does not have the team strength of Spain but neither did Djokovic’s Serbia nor Croatia and Russia. In fact the late eighties saw the legend Boris Becker twice won the Davis Cup title for Germany almost single handedly over the might of Sweden who boasted the likes of Wilander, Edberg and Jarryd. As he winds his career down, Federer may well turn his attention towards the Olympic singles gold and perhaps adding to his 16 grand slam titles.

The U.S will now face the winner of France and Canada in the quarter finals. John Isner and Mardy Fish will now lead a strong challenge for the Davis Cup this year and could be aided by Andy Roddick later. Serbia, France and Argentina would be the other countries that are favored to do well this year.

Similar Posts

U.S takes surprise 2-0 lead against Switzerland; Isner beats Federer, Fish wins thriller

Davis Cup Overview: Israel joins the fun as surprise semifinalist

Pairings announced for Davis Cup final