DAVIS CUP WORLD GROUP SEMI-FINALS 2011
IMPRESSIVE NADAL, FERRER HAND SPAIN ADVANTAGE
Cordoba, Spain
by ATP Staff | 16.09.2011

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Spain's Rafael Nadal is 13-0 in clay-court Davis Cup singles rubbers.
SPAIN 2, FRANCE 0
Rafael Nadal showed no signs of fatigue in beating France's Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in Cordoba on Friday to give Spain the lead in its Davis Cup semi-final.
The 25-year-old Nadal, who finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the US Open on Monday, improved to a 17-1 record in Davis Cup singles rubbers with victory in just two hours and nine minutes.
Nadal hit 33 winners in total and committed just nine unforced errors in the 40-minute second set. He converted seven of 16 break point opportunities in a one-sided encounter. He is now 10-0 versus Gasquet.
"I was serving well, especially in the opening two sets, and that gave me a lot of composure," Nadal told Spanish television. "The effort was positive, [but] if the game had dragged on, it could have been tough for me."
World No. 5 David Ferrer made it 2-0 Spain later in the day, when he improved to a 23-6 record on clay courts this season. The 29 year old followed in Nadal's footsteps with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 win over France's Gilles Simon in two hours and eight minutes.
Nine-time champion France will now need to comeback from 0-2 down for the fourth time in its 107-year association with the Davis Cup. Four-time champion Spain is unbeaten at home in 19 ties. France is bidding to reach back-to-back finals for the first time since 2002.
The winner will meet either defending champion Serbia or Argentina.