Re: Ancic to begin Croatia's defence - 溫網 Tennis

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Mario Ancic CRO d. Jurgen Melzer AUT 67(2) 67(4) 64 64 63

Ivan Ljubicic CRO d. Stefan Koubek AUT 62 62 64

※ 引述《okk (︿(@￣o￣@)︿)》之銘言：
: Ancic to begin Croatia's defence
: It was Mario Ancic who won the match that handed Croatia its Davis Cup
: triumph in December, and it is Ancic who will begin his country's defence of
: the title in Graz on Friday.
: The full draw for the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round tie
: between Austria and Croatia in Graz is:
: Jurgen Melzer (AUT) v Mario Ancic (CRO)
: Stefan Koubek (AUT) v Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)
: Julian Knowle/Alexander Peya (AUT) v Mario Ancic/Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)
: Jurgen Melzer (AUT) v Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)
: Stefan Koubek (AUT) v Mario Ancic (CRO)
: Ljubicic straight into new role
: Ivan Ljubicic will get his chance to sit on court as a playing captain before
: he actually takes to the court as a player following the draw for the Davis Cup
: by BNP Paribas World Group first round tie between Austria and Croatia.
: Austrian No. 1 Jurgen Melzer and Croatian No.2 Mario Ancic will open the
: proceedings on Friday with Ljubicic’s match against Austrian No. 2 Stefan
: Koubek following. Matches start at 1300 local time.
: It will be the first match for the holders since that great weekend in
: Bratislava in December when Croatia defeated Slovak Republic to win its first
: Davis Cup, one of the biggest, maybe the biggest, sports trophy in Croatian
: history:
: "Since we know the feeling, feeling of the champions we want to hold on as long
: as possible", said Ljubicic.
: Ljubicic will sit on court for the first set or set and a half while Ancic is
: playing:
: "We have some combinations, and we'll talk about it tonight. Anyway, I don’t
: think [it] is a big deal, most of the time we play alone and need to find our
: solutions alone".
: Tough choice for Muster
: The biggest talk before the draw was who would play the second singles for
: Austria. Austrian captain and playing legend Thomas Muster made the decision
: on Thursday morning, choosing Stefan Koubek over Oliver Marach:
: "Yes, it was a difficult decision, and it took me a while, at the end it was
: Koubek. I don’t want to go public, just let the players know on time. This is
: my decision, and my responsibility".
: Playing conditions, as far as Muster is concerned are perfect:
: "Just what we wanted, the rest is up to us to make the most of it. It's not
: easy to talk about the favourites, every tie starts at 50-50 and after every
: match it changes. I would say that we will be much smarter on Friday evening".
: Jurgen Melzer is happy to play first:
: “It's easy to prepare than to watch and be excited if the first match goes
: for four hours. Also, with a win I'd like to think it will put more pressure
: on Ljubicic, less on Stefan".
: Zagreb repeat
: Ljubicic defeated Koubek last week in the final at the ATP Tour event in
: Zagreb, but insists, it will have no reference to the match they play on
: Friday:
: "It will be a completely different match. Different surface, different
: atmosphere, different surroundings. Like we never played before".
: The Croatian No. 1 has no problems with the speed of the clay court:
: "We expected [the court surface] to be extremely slow", but had something to
: say about some things that surround the tie:
: "Locker room, if you can call it that is definitely not World Group standard,
: and possibly the worst I have seen. Apart from that, everything else is fine.
: I would have liked to play first, and then concentrate on coaching, but you
: have to take it as it comes".
: Ancic ready
: Mario Ancic is ready. First couple days he had minor groin injury problems,
: but he was fine on Thursday:
: "I came two days before even, and adapted well. We are here to fight for the
: win. Nothing else matters. Only the win. Austria will be a difficult opponent,
: but we hope to continue our great Davis Cup run.”
: Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya will face Ancic and Ljubicic in Saturday’s
: doubles rubber, while Sunday sees the reverse singles with the two best ranked
: players for each country, Melzer and Ljubicic playing first, followed by
: Koubek and Ancic.

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