DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP)—Mardy Fish and John Isner gave the United States a 2-1 win over Kazakhstan at the World Team Cup on Wednesday by defeating Andrey Golubev and Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 7-6 (10) in doubles.
The United States will play Argentina, which defeated Sweden 2-1, to decide the winner of the Red Group and the right to play in Saturday’s final against the Blue Group winner.
The U.S. victory came after the singles matches were split Tuesday, with Fish beating Golubev and Kukushkin outlasting Sam Querrey.
All four teams in the Blue Group have a 1-1 record. Spain came from behind to beat Germany 2-1, while Serbia defeated Russia 2-1 despite losing Wednesday’s doubles. Germany tops the Blue Group on the basis of matches and sets won, and will next play Russia. Spain is second and will play Serbia.
Kukushkin dropped his serve in Wednesday’s doubles to give the United States a 5-3 lead in the first set, and Isner then served out to love.
In the second set Isner was broken in the second game, but the United States recovered the break at 2-4 when Kukushkin again conceded his serve.
The Americans then held off two set points in the tiebreaker before claiming victory on their fifth match point.
The win was further encouragement for 29-year old Fish, who little more than a year ago was struggling to make an impact. This week he is the top-ranked American at No. 10.
He is looking forward to arriving in Paris, determined to improve on his previous performances at the French Open.
“I’m excited about my form going into the French Open,” he said. “I’ve never made it past the second round, but I’ve certainly put in the work.”
Fish has made one of the most dramatic improvements of any player over the past 12 months, and he feels he has earned his success.
“I changed my lifestyle,” he said. “I put in a ton of work, a ton of work with my diet. You set goals, and my goal was to make the top 10 in the world at some point in my career.
“I feel like I belong. I feel like I can beat anybody on a hard court or a grass court, (but) I have yet to show that I can beat everybody on a clay court.”