Austria’s Jurgen Melzer played with a rhythm that Alex Bogomolov Jr. couldn’t break to take the decisive rubber in Austria’s Davis Cup first-round win over Russia, Bogomolov said Sunday.
Hard-hitting Melzer, the world no. 40, upset the no.34-ranked Bogomolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 in the fourth rubber on Sunday to give Austria an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the match in Wiener Neustadt.
“Melzer in defense and in attack are two different players. When he has the initiative, he is transformed,” Bogomolov told Russian website chempionat.com.
“I wanted to somehow put him off his rhythm, but if someone is playing his game, it’s hard to knock him out of the groove. You could say that my tennis just didn’t suit his style.”
Bogomolov said that Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev told him to play more at the net, but that he was unable to make the strategy work.
“Jurgen served very well and so could take risks in my games. Shamil Anvyarovich [Tarpishchev] told me to move up the court, but that turned out to be difficult. [Melzer] played around me and played deep.”
Bogomolov also shed more light on Tarpishchev’s surprise decision not to play his highest-ranked player, world no. 32 Mikhail Youzhny, or the veteran Nikolai Davydenko in the decisive rubber.
“Regarding the decision about who should play, Nikolay was ill all week, and moreover he used up all his emotions yesterday. Mikhail’s having trouble with his shoulder, so there were no other options,” he said.
Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer is currently playing Igor Kunitsyn in the final tie of the match, which is now a dead rubber.
