Date:09/02/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/09/stories/2004020901671700.htm

Sport - Tennis

Sweden dethrones Australia

ADELAIDE, FEB. 8. Jonas Bjorkman knocked defending champion Australia out of the Davis Cup on Sunday, beating Mark Philippoussis 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 and giving Sweden an unbeatable 3-1 lead.

Thomas Enqvist overcame Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (8), 3-6, 6-4 in the last reverse singles match to complete a 4-1 win for the Swedes, while Australia became the seventh defending champion to be eliminated in the first round since the World Group finals format was introduced in 1972.

Philippoussis, hero of Australia's win over Spain in the 2003 final two months ago, lost both his singles matches here at Memorial Drive.

"It's three days I want to put behind me. One day you're the hero, the next day everyone jumps on you," said Philippoussis. "That's how it is here unfortunately. It's a tough time now."

Bjorkman had spent 4-1/2 hours on court on Saturday with Joachim Johansson in a five-set doubles win over Todd Woodbridge and Arthurs to give the visitors a 2-1 buffer. He got a late call-up in the reverse singles for 19-year-old Robin Soderling.

"Sometimes it helps me after a long match, to get more energy and play this good," Bjorkman said. "When I play this tennis, I can beat a lot of guys out there."

The results (host country first):

At Adelaide: Sweden bt Australia 4-1(Mark Philippoussis lost to Jonas Bjorkman 5-7, 2-6, 2-6; Wayne Arthurs lost to Thomas Enqvist 6-7 (8), 6-3, 4-6)

At Brno: Czech Republic 2, Spain 1 (Jiri Novak & Radek Stepanek bt Rafael Nadal & Tommy Robredo 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-3).

At Agadir: Morocco 0, Argentina 3 (Mounir El Aarej & Mehdi Tahiri lost to Lucas Arnold & Agustin Calleri 1-6, 4-6, 2-6).

At Bucharest: Romania 1, Switzerland 3 (Andrei Pavel & Gabriel Trifu lost to Roger Federer & Yves Allegro 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 8-10; Andrei Pavel lost to Roger Federer 3-6, 2-6, 5-7).

At Minsk: Belarus 1, Russia 2 (Max Mirnyi & Alexander Shvec lost to Marat Safin & Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 5-7, 6-7 (4)).

At Metz: France 3, Croatia 1 (Arnaud Clement bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4).

At Maastricht: Netherlands 3, Canada 1 (Martin Verkerk bt Frank Dancevic 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-5, 6-3).

At Uncasville: United States 3, Austria 0 (Bob & Mike Bryan bt Julian Knowle & Jurgen Melzer, Austria, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4).