Davis Cup - Ecuador vs Romania - Sept 2003
MATCH 3 - Doubles

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Nico/Giovanni vs Florin Mergea/Horia Tecau

When the teams reassembled a short time later for the official oncourt team presentation, there was one very notable absentee – Nico. This was most unusual but necessary because after earlier exertions, he had been given some extra time to prepare for the doubles rubber. [It was only later that I found out that he spent most of the time between matches having some ultra-sound treatment on his shoulder – which had certainly taken a battering during the singles.]

The earlier sunshine and warmth during Nico's singles match had gone and had been replaced by cloud as it got increasingly colder as the day went on. When the players came on court for the doubles and started the warm up, Nico and Giovanni both wore the official Ecuador tracksuits to keep warm, whilst the youngsters from Romania, Mergea and Tecau were in their team "whites" raring to go.

The doubles rubber in most Davis Cup ties is often the key to success or failure and it was especially so in this case since the teams were level 1-1. On paper, it looked as though the brothers would have no problem with victory as they were by far more experienced in Davis Cup as a doubles partnership – the Romanian team were Davis Cup debutantes and had never experienced pressure like it before as they were still juniors. However, what no one had taken into account was that as Juniors Mergea and Tecau had been very successful together, winning the Wimbledon Doubles Junior title and at the start of the tie they were ranked 1 and 2 respectively in the world junior doubles rankings. The other big factor in their favour was that they were completely rested, having not played the previous day whereas Nico and Giovanni had played over 4 hours each in singles already.

This match did not start in the best of spirits. The Ecuadorian players were definitely "on edge" with the pressure and during an incident packed first set, Nicolas, Giovanni and Raul the Captain got very vocal with the umpires and referee when they thought some line calls were wrong, at one stage even asking for a change of umpire. The Romanians certainly gave no impression that they were inexperienced of playing on the big stage and demonstrated the same class as the Ecuadorian pair to take the first set to a tie break, which they won easily. After this highly-charged opening set, things settled down and the match developed into a very quality affair with all four players producing some excellent tennis and giving great entertainment to the crowd.

Once they had relaxed, Nico and Giovanni started to play really well as a partnership to win the second set 6-1 and levelled the match at 1-1. As with the previous two rubbers, the momentum swung back and forth regularly and soon the Romanian team were in front again, taking the third set 6-3 to put the pressure back with the Lapenttis. The fourth set had a do-or-die atmosphere as the Nico and Giovanni knew they badly needed to win this rubber. They countered well to level the match again and force another fifth set.

The fifth and final set was memorable because all four players were serving well and the pace did not let up. The Romanians had the slight advantage because they were serving first but as the set went on, the pressure on all the players was intense. None of them wanted to let their partner down. The game score continued to rise, way past the usual end of a set, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, and still there were no breaks chances for either side.

With the clock clicking on and the temperature getting colder by the minute, – bear in mind that the Lapentti brothers had each committed nearly 8 hours to the tie so far in a severe test of their fitness preparations and stamina – the Ecuadorians upped the pace and had quite a number of chances to break but did not succeed on any of them because the Romanians saved these break points with a confidence that belied their inexperience and youth. However, it was to Nicolas and Giovanni's credit that there was not even the remotest "chink" in the Ecuadorian team's armour until the 24^th game of the set. After all the failed break chances Nico was called upon to serve to save the match at 11-12, and with the match over 4 hours old (with Nico having played for over 5½ hours that day), the Romanians managed to get themselves to matchpoint and as Nico watched a lob from Mergea go over his head and it was all over and the Romanians were in a 2-1 lead again. The match score was 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 13-11, a contest of the highest quality with the match lasting over 4 hours again – the last set alone was only just short of 2 hours.

After defeat, Nico and Giovanni was exhausted but still had to find the time to face their national media. Nico summed the match up well by saying "Sometimes luck plays an important part in a match like this – they played the key points better – that made the difference. We no longer have an advantage but there are still two singles matches to play so we still have a chance." For the Romanians, Mergea said "It was difficult for us to maintain our focus but we believed in ourselves and the hard work paid off."

It was amazing to think that but for a handful of points in Giovanni's match and the doubles rubber, Ecuador could have been 2-1 up or even won the tie already 3-0; instead they were 1-2 down and facing an extreme uphill battle. With the momentum with the Romanians, it was obvious that Nicolas and Giovanni would have intense pressure on their shoulders overnight and the next day to try to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.

Another thing in the Romanian team's favour was that whilst Nicolas and Giovanni had been working in the doubles, the singles players Hanescu and Sabau were relaxing and resting for the reverse singles rubbers.

Next part - Match 4.