Daviscup.com
April 11, 2024

Dutch pair John Van Lottum and Martin Verkerk have kept the Netherlands� hopes alive in their Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Quarterfinal, fighting back from a two-set deficit to win the rain-delayed doubles rubber against Spain 36 26 63 62 62.

Tommy Robredo and Majorcan-born Rafael Nadal were leading by two sets to one against John Van Lottum and Martin Verkerk when the heavens opened on Saturday, forcing play to resume at 10.30am local time today. In exactly one hour the pumped up Dutch pair completely turned the game around, playing with confidence and without the errors that hampered the first three sets.

Robredo opened the fourth set with his serve and as he raced to put the first game on the board without dropping a set, it looked as though the rubber and tie might be over in a matter of minutes. But the Dutch pair had a different game-plan in mind. Encouraged by their boisterous captain Tjerk Bogstra, who barely sat for a second in his chair, Verkerk found his serve and teamed with Van Lottum at the net to dominate the play.

The first time Verkerk and Van Lottum played together was the 2003 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs, in which they helped the Dutch side defeat India 5-0. The more recent and only other occasion was last month in Scottsdale where they reached the quarterfinals, before going down to Jeff Coetzee and Chris Haggard from South Africa 46 75 75 64. Given that Verkerk and Van Lottum have only teamed together as doubles partners twice before, Van Lottum was very happy with the way they lifted their game today.

�We played very bad in the first two sets, we were very passive that�s why they could play their game, the first set that we won we weren�t even playing that good.

�Our intensity was very high in the fourth and fifth set. Our level changed and we started to get everything out of our game and got very intense, very focused on what to do, and very aggressive and I think we deserved to win,� said Van Lottum.

�After the first day we got killed in both of the singles and that came hard on us. And you could see that in the first two sets on Saturday. But when we won the third set without playing that good of tennis we thought, we can win here, and when you focus and really believe that you can win everything gets a lot easier.�

Unlike their Dutch counterparts Nadal and Robredo have played together many times before this tie, beginning their doubles preparation last October when they teamed up in Basle, Switzerland. The duo has an impressive 11-5 win-loss record including a final spot in Chennai, a quarterfinal in Indian Wells and a semifinal in Dubai. But their record in Davis Cup is not so hot, today�s loss adding to their loss against the Czech Republic in February�s first round.

On Friday, world No.3 Juan Carlos Ferrero gave Spain a 2-0 lead when he raced to a 6-2 6-2 6-4 victory over Raemon Sluiter. Earlier Carlos Moya had put Spain ahead with a confident 6-2 7-5 6-4 victory over Martin Verkerk in the opening singles rubber. Spain, who were runners-up to Australia last year, need to win only one of the remaining two rubbers to book their place in the semifinals of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. But the Dutch side, spurred on by Captain Tjerk Bogstra, are very much still in this tie. Verkerk is set to take to the court in the first of the reversed rubbers against Juan Carlos Ferrero. If Verkerk was to beat the Rolland Garros Champion, according to the rules of Davis Cup, Bogstra has ten minutes to notify the referee of any changes to his final singles line-up.

Asked of the chances of a Dutch comeback from 1-2 down Van Lottom was optimistic, �It is very tough, Ferrero is maybe the best player on clay in the world. But this is Davis Cup and a couple of years ago we didn�t� think that Haarhuis and Sluiter could beat the two players so I think that everything is possible.

�It is very slow out there today and it is difficult to hit winners, if Ferrero is not at the top of his game he will have a difficult match against Verkerk.�