Andy Roddick is in Davis Cup action against Paul Capdeville on Sunday.
Roddick will be hoping to grind out a win here and prevent John Isner having to try and seal this for the Americans in the decisive rubber. Although Chile are lacking their star man Fernando Gonzalez, this was always going to be an awkward tie for them. The US squad have traditionally struggled on clay and despite Chile fielding no players ranked inside the top 150, the Americans were made to toil on day one.
Roddick wore down former Olympic champion Nicolas Massu in four tough sets and afterwards said he enjoyed his first Davis Cup rubber in two years.
“The nerves beforehand, the glances at your bench for encouragement, all those little things came back to me. There were various times it felt familiar. It was fun to get out there and battle again,” he said.
He faces a tougher test today against Capdeville who produced the performance of his life to defeat Isner from two sets to love down. Isner smashed 38 aces but it was not enough as Capdeville competed as though his life depended on it, scrambling desperately for over four hours to keep his country's hopes alive.
However Capdeville will need at least a repeat performance as Roddick is an even tougher proposition, especially in the Davis Cup where he has a fine record. That is a tough ask, just two days later so look for Roddick to take this one in four.
