Four days after losing a grueling U.S. Open final to Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal dropped only four games Friday to get Spain off to a 2-0 start against France in the Davis Cup semifinals.
Nadal routed Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 on his favorite clay-court surface and David Ferrer cruised past Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 to put Spain at Cordoba's bullring in the best-of-five series.
Djokovic was a late withdrawal from the opening day's singles in Serbia's semifinal against Argentina with a back problem. His replacement, Viktor Troicki, lost to David Nalbandian 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Janko Tipsarevic has a chance to even the score against Juan Martin del Potro later Friday.
After beating Gasquet in a little over two hours, Nadal complained again about the tennis schedule and didn't rule out a strike if there wasn't an immediate fix.
We don't want to get there. We want to play,'' Nadal said.But if it's a fight about something that we think is fair, something would have to happen.''
Nadal broke seven times in a dominant performance, improving his Davis Cup singles record on clay to 13-0.
I'm close to the end of my energy,'' Nadal said.I'm not in perfect condition physically, I know that. If the match stays longer it (would) be very difficult for me.''
Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco can clinch victory by beating Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Saturday's doubles.
Should Spain wrap up the win, Nadal conceded he would prefer to face Argentina in the final. The match would be in Spain, and he'd avoid meeting Djokovic, who is 6-0 against him in finals this year.
Serbia managed to get through its semifinal against Czech Republic last year when Djokovic withdrew from the opening day's singles in similar circumstances - although on that occasion he had just lost the U.S. Open final to Nadal.
Djokovic arrived in Belgrade on Thursday and blamed a back injury - for which he had treatment during the U.S. Open final - for his withdrawal.
Djokovic's absence helped us for sure,'' Nalbandian said.I found out some 25-30 minutes before the match that he will not play, but I was prepared to play either him or Troicki, it did not matter.''
Troicki made 58 unforced errors against Nalbandian, who took his Davis Cup singles record to 22-5.
In Sydney, Roger Federer made a sluggish start before beating Lleyton Hewitt 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3 to move Switzerland into a 1-1 tie against Australia in a World Group playoff. Earlier, Bernard Tomic beat Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Federer said he was feeling the effects of his five-set loss to Djokovic in the U.S. Open semifinals and felt uncomfortable on an ``old school'' grass court.
``I all of a sudden realized this was much more difficult than I expected,'' Federer said.