Tennis: Battle royal against Spain's No 1

By Terry Maddaford

HAMILTON - Mark Nielsen and Felix Mantilla went through the whole raft of big-time sporting emotions before the Spanish No 1 dug deep to see off Nielsen in a tense five-set opening Davis Cup tennis rubber at Mystery Creek yesterday.

But there was no such drama as Spanish No 2 Francisco Clavet whipped top Kiwi Brett Steven in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 - in just 1h 46m - to ensure the visitors of their expected 2-0 opening day lead.

It was all there - and some - as Mantilla, the world's 18th ranked player did his darnedest to dispatch the brash Nielsen, ranked more than 250 places lower.

And, when he was done - winning 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in 3h 30m - Mantilla, in his Davis Cup debut at 24 years, admitted only the spur of playing for his country drove him on.

Nielsen and his Kiwi team-mates wish it hadn't.

"If this had been an ATP event I would have retired," said Mantilla who required treatment for a lower back injury at 1-2 and deuce in the second set.

"It is the first time I have had an injury like this. I was struggling. I could not move and in the third set I could not run."

Making the most of Mantilla's misfortune, Nielsen claimed the second set as Mantilla came back from treatment to eventually take the drawn-out fourth game (after six deuces), only to drop his next two service games and the set.

Nielsen needed only 33 minutes to claim the third set, dropping just five service points.

There was no such cakewalk in the fourth as Mantilla slowly regained his fitness, confidence and reached into his vast reserves of experience.

Nielsen broke Mantilla for 3-2 in a game which featured two of the best rallies of the match. For once Nielsen, who had struggled to capitalise on hard-earned break points, got it right.

He raced through the next game, got close in the seventh, ripped in three aces to lead 5-3 but could do little as Mantilla held his serve to love in the next.

At 5-4 Nielsen served for the match. The crowd in the half-full stadium sensed, willed, an upset.

But it was too much. Nielsen opened with his second double-fault of the match, drew level at 15-15, trailed 15-40, scrambled a point but, showing signs of cramp, got only one more point as the Spaniard broke back. The chance gone.

Mantilla served out the next game without dropping a point and had Nielsen struggling at 30-30 before he held on for 6-6. Nielsen scored only two points in a lightning-fast tiebreak as he contemplated what might have been.

Forty-one minutes later it was all over. Nielsen dropped his first serve to love and managed little more than a handful of points as Mantilla cruised home, his debut dream which threatened to become a nightmare fulfilled.

Against Clavet, just days short of his 31st birthday but moving with the agility of one 10 years younger, Steven was never allowed a sniff. Clavet needed just 30 minutes for the first set, 34 for the second and closed it out in 41 for the last. He didn't drop his serve.

"He was just too good," said Steven. "From the time I lost my first serve I felt sluggish. I was pretty satisfied with my last two sets but it was not good enough. His court speed surprised us. He would be up there with the quickest I have played.

"It is nine months since I played anyone that good. He played aggressively and kept up the big shots."

But Steven is not prepared to admit defeat just yet.

"It is not mission impossible to get back to 2-2. If we [Steven and James Greenhalgh] can win the doubles on Saturday and Mantilla is not 100 per cent on Sunday, we have a chance."

\EE In Brisbane, rookie Wayne Arthurs, ranked 91st in the world, upset Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov in their singles rubber of the Davis Cup semifinal to give Australia a 2-0 lead yesterday.


Arthurs, making his Davis Cup debut, beat the world's No 2 ranked player 6-2 6-7 6-2 6-0 after teenager Lleyton Hewitt had beaten Marat Safin 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 4-6 6-3.

Kafelnikov dismissed the grass court for the tie as a potato field.