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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Saturday, February 10 |
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| Brazil defeats Morocco to reach quarterfinals Reuters | |||
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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Brazil reached the Davis
Cup quarterfinals on Saturday after an easy victory in the doubles
gave them a decisive 3-0 lead in their tie against Morocco.
Davis Cup rookie Alexandre Simoni and veteran Jaime Oncins beat
Hicham Arazi and Karim Alami 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to earn Brazil a
meeting with the winners of the Australia-Ecuador tie.
Brazil captain Ricardo Acioly decided to risk Simoni instead
of his No. 1 player Gustavo Kuerten, who was involved in a
marathon four-hour five set match with Alami on Friday.
Brazil wrapped up the straight-sets victory in just over two
hours on a miserable day for Arazi.
The Moroccan, forced to retire hurt in Friday's singles
against Fernando Meligeni after suffering cramps, never found his
touch and had his serve broken five times.
Simoni, who reached the semifinals of the Colombia Open last
week, made a nervous start and lost his serve on his first game.
But he soon got into his stride and it was the Moroccan pair
who looked ill at ease, Arazi in particular missing a number of
easy shots.
Oncins, a doubles specialist making his 24th Davis Cup
appearance, was typically erratic and alternated some brilliant
play with basic mistakes.
"When Ricardo (Acioly) told me I was playing, I said I was
ready. I was very confident and it's an honor to represent
Brazil," Simoni said.
Acioly said that with Kuerten still drained after Friday's
battle in searing tropical heat, he thought the team was right
to gamble on the 21-year-old newcomer.
"It was excellent to see that he met our expectations," he
said.
The only disappointment for the Brazilians was the half-full
stadium -- blamed on over-priced tickets -- and an unusually
subdued crowd.
Ticket prices began at 100 Real ($50) for the cheapest
seats, and not even the 300-Real seats offered any shade. | |
ALSO SEE Swiss win doubles, take 2-1 lead over U.S. in Davis Cup Spain's reign as Davis Cup champions is short France leads Belgium 3-0 to book second round berth Swedes win doubles to lead Czechs 2-1 Ecuador upsets Australia in epic doubles match Russia leads Slovakia 2-1 after doubles victory Romania win doubles to lead Germany 2-1 Davis Cup results Kuerten overcomes poor start to give Brazil lead Gambill pulls U.S. even against Switzerland | |
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