Davis Cup - Ecuador vs Romania - Sept 2003
MATCH 1 - Singles

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Giovanni Lapentti vs Victor Hanescu

This opening rubber proved to be extremely close and it went the full 5 sets, lasting over 4 hours and only contained one single break of serve. From early on it became apparent that the pattern of the match was going to be serve orientated and breaks were going to be few and far between – if at all. With the two strongest servers pitted against each other, this result was going to come down to just a handful of points.

The momentum swung backwards and forwards like a metronome from game to game. After 2 sets and 2 tie breaks, the match was level 1-1, Hanescu won the first set tie break whilst Giovanni levelled by winning the second breaker. There had been no significant chances for either player to dominate on the other's serve – instead both players were trying to avoid unnecessary mistakes on serve and waited for errors from their opponent. I remember thinking near the start of the match that the players were so evenly matched that it might take several hours to separate them. (What foresight!) It continued being a tense match, serve and ace orientated, quick points and very few rallies. Although the spectator stands were by no means full at the start, the Ecuadorian public who actually did arrive early certainly had a riveting match to watch – even if it did not have the action and emotion of the other rubbers in the tie. This was quite different tennis than the Ecuador fans were used to on the clay of their home country. They have been used to long points and exciting rallies but with Giovanni they are starting to learn that he plays differently and likes to keep points short and sweet.

Over three hours into the match, with 48 service games and four tie breaks behind them (each player winning 2 sets), Giovanni and Hanescu settled into the final set of this, the 'crunch' first rubber. Hanescu had been one of the form players in 2003 having establishing himself well inside the top 100 (at the time 76 in the world), so it was not too surprising that this match was close, perhaps the only thing that did surprise the home team was that the Romanian was standing up very well to the effects of the altitude and that he was coping with the pressures of playing Davis Cup in front of a "loud hostile" crowd so well.

Hanescu had the luck to start the final set serving first so as the set went on, the pressure seemed to shift squarely onto Giovanni's young shoulders. At the business end of the match, Giovanni suddenly had 3 break point chances – his first for a long time. However when he could not break through, as Hanescu managed to save these chances, the momentum shifted for one final time. With the score at 4-5 and after 57 games on serve, Giovanni served to keep his nation in the match but when Hanescu got to match point, Giovanni was unable to save it. The match had lasted a total of 4 hours and 7 minutes – a real crucial encounter. Hanescu's potent serve had proved to be stronger on the day; he served 23 aces and won 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.

Giovanni walked off the court crying and bitterly disappointed. It had been a gruelling encounter and all he could do was sit and hope that Nico could even the score by winning the other singles rubber. It certainly set the tone for the rest of the tie.

Romania were 1-0 up.

Next part - Match 2.