The Hindu : Sport / Football : Russia takes 2-1 lead

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Sunday, Dec 03, 2006
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Russia takes 2-1 lead

MOSCOW: Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov beat Argentina's David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday to put Russia ahead 2-1 in the Davis Cup final.

Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev brought in Safin to replace Mikhail Youzhny for the doubles — a surprise move given Safin's disappointment with the synthetic indoor carpet at Olympic Stadium, which he had blamed for his straight-set loss to Nalbandian in Friday's opening singles.

Serving hard and returning proficiently, Tursunov and Safin conceded only one point in their first-set service games and broke their struggling opponents in the fourth game.

Nalbandian and Calleri saved three break points in the sixth game but were broken to love two games later and lost the set.

Nalbandian double-faulted at love-40 to put Russia up 3-1 in the second set, an advantage that the home side never surrendered. The Russians opened the third set with a break and continued to dominate until Tursunov served out the match in 1 hour, 38 minutes.

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin joined Safin and Tursunov on the court after the match, taking each by the hand and raising their arms in triumph.

The results: Russia 2, Argentina 1 (Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov bt David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri 6-2, 6-3, 6-4). — AP

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