Today the San Jose Residence Inn stadium was crowded with paddle fans to watch the most-awaited match of the 2003 Paddle Davis Cup, between the two favorite nations: Denmark and Germany. Starting at 8PM, the first match opposed the #1 APP player Jonas Andersen to his lifelong rival, Markus Meser.
Leading the Denmark national team onto the court, Andersen entered the game in good shape, with three promising break points in Meser's opening service game. Last week in Santa Cruz, he beat Argentina's Sergio Roitman after a similar game start.
Though, the balls were coming faster and faster from the German player, who was fiercely responding to the high-level play rythm imposed by Andersen. The pressure was high and the crowd was cheering every ball, which made the players' concentration difficult. The French senior umpire Bruno Robbeu even had to call the frenzy crowd to order with a series of firm "quiet please!" microphone declarations.
Though none of the players deserved to lose a single point, Meser finally won the first set 6-2. In the second set, Meser was playing even harder, while Andersen showed signs of tiredness. A probable consequence of his participation up to finals in recent Roland Garros and Wimbledon tournaments. At 5-0, Andersen came for recovery, winning a game and saving 5 set points on Meser's service game!
6-2, 6-1, 2-0. The first two sets lasted an hour each and the pressure between the two players could have continued forever. The third set was halted at 10PM by the night fall, leaving the full suspense to tomorrow evening...!
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| Eurospart - jp.norguet@eurospart.co.uk 28/07/2003 | |