Romania went into this weekend's Davis Cup play-off with Ecuador, as firm favourites after the visitors revealed their highest-ranked and the most experienced player, Nicolas Lapentti, will be forced to miss this weekend's singles. Despite the former top ten player's ongoing battle to recover after a knee injury, he arrived in the Romanian capital Bucharest, hopeful that he could play at least the doubles match, alongside his younger brother Giovanni. Even with Lapentti senior fit, the Romanians could have been confident of ending the weekend triumphant, but without him, Andrei Pavel's squad was very confident about their chances of securing World Group in 2011.
Romania's no.2 Adrian Ungur was the hero of the first day when he battled to victory from two sets down in the second rubber of the day to give the hosts a commanding 2-0 overnight lead. The home nation’s No. 1 Victor Hanescu had put Andrei Pavel’s team in control with a one-sided 62 62 62 victory over Ivan Endara. But while Lapentti, who had been promoted to lead his team when older brother Nicolas ruled himself unfit for the singles, began to tire in the third set, Ungur went from strength to strength to notch up a gutsy 67(2) 46 63 64 61 win – his first Davis Cup by BNP Paribas victory in only the second rubber of his career. The 25-year-old’s recovery was all the more remarkable given the match was played in temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius in Bucharest and on an energy-sapping, relatively slow red clay surface, purpose-built for the tie.
“At the beginning I thought I wasn’t going to win,” Ungur admitted. “I was down, but the crowd were behind me and I’m very happy. My captain was telling me I needed to move him around some more and make him play a lot [of balls]. I felt he was getting tired so I said, “OK, let’s [make him] run a little bit to see how he’s feeling.’ This victory will give me a lot of confidence.”
“I was very happy with the way I served,” Hanescu said afterwards. “I used the kick serve a lot which was good as he’s a short guy and I had a very good percentage on first serve. It was a very good match for me. I’m happy I didn’t spend too much time on court.”
After the second day, Andrei Pavel could start planning for the World Group in 2011 after his doubles team Victor Hanescu and Horia Tecau put their nation into an unbeatable 3-0 lead. The home team combined superbly in front of a noisy crowd at the National Centre of Tennis to completely outclass the visitors’ first-time pairing of Giovanni Lapentti and Ivan Endara, 6-2 6-2 6-2. Any pairing would have been tested by the likes of Hanescu and Tecau on the day, the latter having won five ATP doubles titles this year, with a ranking of No.18 in the world as well as a recent runners-up spot at Wimbledon alongside Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt. But when Ecuador’s most experienced player, Nicolas Lapentti, decided his problematic knee would rule him out of day two’s action it was always going to be a tall order for the younger Lapentti brother and Endara, who was playing only his second Davis Cup doubles rubber.
In the third day, Romania's dominant team completed a clean sweep of all five rubbers with another two singles victories in their World Group play-off against Ecuador in Bucharest on Sunday, to wrap up a perfect weekend for captain Andrei Pavel and his men. The result means Romania will re-join the 16-nation World Group for the 14th time in Davis Cup's history. With the tie already decided by Saturday night, Pavel brought in world No.183 Crivoi to take on Ecuador’s No.1 Giovanni Lapentti in the first of Sunday’s singles and the local had too much energy for the South American during a relatively straightforward 62 64 victory. Later on, Ungur won his second rubber of the weekend when he scored a 63 64 victory over Emilio Gomez, the son of 1990 French Open champion Andres, on the 18-year-old’s Davis Cup debut.
“I’m so happy,” said Pavel, reflecting on the tie. “I was thinking about when I first started as captain. I had a loss against Russia and then a defeat against Sweden. There was a lot of stress in those first ties. We were a little lucky with Nicolas Lapentti injured this weekend and with a player like Victor Hanescu leading the team it was pretty easy in the end. It was perfect."
“World Group tennis is very important for us. Davis Cup is huge. Spectators will come and watch and if we’re at home against a big team it will be very good for Romania and very good for tennis in this country.”
Viver admitted his team had always been underdogs. “The rankings made Romania favourites before the tie and I think the results proved that,” he said. “Even with Nicolas healthy it would have been a tough series but we would have had a better chance.”
Lapentti senior had to endure a frustrating weekend, watching helpless from the bench as his nation slipped to defeat, but although the 34-year-old hasn’t played since the French Open in May he insisted he will do everything he can to ensure he wears his country’s colours again one day.
“I don’t want to finish [my Davis Cup career] like this,” the former world No.6 said. “Once I recover I want to see if I have the motivation to compete on the tour and if that’s not the case I will probably leave the door open to be part of the Davis Cup.” After a difficult weekend for team Ecuador it will be music to his captain’s ears.
