Finland squeeze past Cyprus in Davis Cup thriller

Finns advance to Europe/Africa Group I in 2010

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Finland's tennis Davis Cup team squeezed past Cyprus 3-2 in last weekend's 3rd round match in Group II of the Europe/Africa category, and the Finns will therefore be promoted to Group I next year.
      It all came down to the final singles match, in which Henri Kontinen eclipsed Photos Kallias in straight sets, 6-0, 7-5, 6-0.
      The 19-year-old Kontinen, who is still a raw talent and whose achievements thus far have been almost entirely in the boys' category (he was the beaten finalist at Wimbledon last year), was obliged to win the fifth match after the Finnish No.1 Jarkko Nieminen lost in four sets to Marcos Baghdatis in the earlier game on Sunday.
     
The reverse set of singles matches had been drawn 1-1, with Nieminen trouncing Kallias 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 and Baghdatis being too good for Kontinen by an almost equally emphatic margin.
      The doubles match on Saturday proved to be pivotal: Nieminen and Kontinen eventually came through a gruelling three and a half hour encounter, despite losing the first two sets.
      The match ended 6-7, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 in favour of the Finns.
     
In winning their way through into Europe/Asia I, the Finnish side will be putting themselves up against opposition of rather larger calibre next year. The draw could include countries such as Holland, Italy, South Africa, Slovakia, Romania, Belarus, or Poland.
      One country that will not be represented is Great Britain, who went down to Europe/Africa II at the weekend after losing to Poland, in spite of having world No.3 Andy Murray in their team.


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