Tennis: Germany, Argentina advance at World Team Cup

Dusseldorf, Germany (AHN Sports) – Germany and Argentina finished off their respective rivals Wednesday to remain in the hunt at the Power Horse World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Lovro Zovko 6-2, 7-6(2) to give the Germans a 2-0 lead over Croatia before they completed a 3-0 sweep after Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner topped Dodig and Zovko 6-4, 1-6, 10-3, in the doubles event.

The 27th-ranked Kohlschreiber created 14 break point chances and converted twice to prevail in 91 minutes. Earlier, Florian Mayer had dismissed Ivan Dodig 6-1, 6-1, to hand Germany early advantage.

“All in all, I never thought that I’d lose,” said Kohlschreiber. “I took a few balls a bit too easy and let him get back into the match and didn’t make the break. The result could have been less close, but I let him back into the match and I think he really played well then.”

The 28-year-old Kohlschreiber has a 13-9 record in the event and is eyeing to help his nation win the ATP team competition for a record sixth time.

Meanwhile, Argentina wrapped up a win on Wednesday as Carlos Berlocq beat Japan’s Go Soeda 6-3, 6-4 to follow up Leonardo Mayer’s victory over Tatsuma Ito on Tuesday.

Berlocq’s teammates, Juan Pablo Brzezicki and Juan Ignacio Chela, finished off the round-robin meeting by rallying past Ito and Bumpei Sato 6-7(3), 6-1, 10-7, tocomplete the sweep of the Japanese.

The Czech Republic closed out a 3-0 victory over the United States as Frantisek Cermak and Radek Stepanek defeated Andy Roddick and Ryan Harrison 7-6(5), 5-7, 10-8 in one hour and 42 minutes.

In France, top seed John Isner struggled his way to the quarterfinals, beating Belgium’s Xavier Malisse 7-6(3), 7-6(5).

The American, No. 11 in the world ranking, fired 13 aces in his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament.

Isner marches on to face Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, who battled past seventh seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in just over two hours.

Second seed Gilles Simon defeated Bulgarian qualifier Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-3 in 80 minutes. The Frenchman broke serve three times from seven opportunities to claim his 26th match win of the season.

Simon, fresh from his 10th ATP World Tour win in Bucharest, will collide with Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci, who defeated Spanish former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-3.

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