FRIBOURG, Switzerland (AP) — The United States took a 1-0 lead against Switzerland in the first round of the Davis Cup on Friday when Mardy Fish beat Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7 in a thrilling opening match.
Fish fought back after wasting a match point chance at 5-4 in the deciding set. He won six games later with a crosscourt volley at the net, silencing the raucous Swiss fans after a match lasting 4 hours, 26 minutes. It marked the the third-longest Davis Cup singles match involving a U.S. player since 1989 when the competition brought in tiebreaks.
"It's certainly up there, there's no doubt about it," said Fish, when asked how it ranked among his best wins. "It's a good win to beat Stan, period. Clay is his best surface, his favorite surface and it's in his home country. I'll take that away, for sure."
The 95-minute final set was marked by wild shifts in momentum before the eighth-ranked American improved his record to 3-0 against the 28th-ranked Wawrinka.
"He did everything to win," Wawrinka said of Fish. "He played more aggressively in the fifth set."
Roger Federer was next on court in the best-of-five series in the World Group. The Swiss star was facing 17th-ranked John Isner before a crowd of 7,000 at Fribourg Forum.
Seven other first-round series in the top tier of Davis Cup were contested Friday. Croatia and Japan were tied 1-1 and Serbia leads Sweden 2-0. The other matchups are: Spain vs. Kazakhstan, Austria vs. Russia, Canada vs. France, Czech Republic vs. Italy, Serbia vs. Sweden and Germany vs. Argentina.
After overcoming early service problems, Fish used dogged defense to set up a first break chance before Wawrinka double-faulted.Fish used his sliced backhand to move Wawrinka around the court and broke again to clinch the set.
Wawrinka used more variety in the second, and got the key break in the seventh game by running to the net to hit a forehand crosscourt winner. Wawrinka clinched the third set with a service winner and the American slammed his racket upon returning to his chair.
Fish responded strongly in the fourth after saving an early break point chance. He led 3-1 after firing a powerful return that Wawrinka could not deal with, then a second break was sealed by a deft winner at the net.
In the fifth, Fish forced Wawrinka to fend off a string of break chances and led 4-3 with serve. He held only after going 0-40 down, saving the first chance with a perfectly judged lob.
Serving for the match, Fish saved a break point with an overhead winner. A long rally on match point ended with Fish caught wrongfooted by Wawrinka's forehand winner.
Wawrinka evened it at 5-5 when Fish sent a forehand long, but lost serve to give Fish a 8-7 lead on his third break opportunity.
In a fluctuating final game, Fish trailed 15-40, reeled off three straight points, then saw a second match-point lost when Wawrinka unleashed a backhand service return down the line. Fish's 14th ace created a third, and decisive, match point.
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