Wed May 21 14:31:53 2008

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U.S. beats Argentina at World Team Championship

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Dusseldorf, Germany (Sports Network) - The United States got a doubles victory from Wayne Odesnik and Bobby Reynolds on Wednesday, as the Americans surprised the reigning champion Argentines 2-1 in round-robin action at the $2.34 million ATP World Team Championship, a clay-court French Open tuneup.

After the U.S. and Argentina split singles matches here on Tuesday, Wednesday's doubles bout decided the outcome, as Odesnik and Reynolds topped a duo of Lucas Arnold and Sebastian Prieto 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 10-7.

The Americans are now 2-0 in the four-nation Red Group and have secured a spot in the semifinals, while Argentina is 0-2 and will not compete in the final four this week.

The Argentines beat the Czech Republic in last year's World Team finale, while the U.S. hasn't won this event since 1993.

Sweden, which is also 2-0 in the Red Group and will play in the semis, finished off the Czechs (0-2) with a 3-0 decision. After winning a pair of singles matches on Tuesday, the Swedes got a 6-4, 7-5 doubles victory from Robert Lindstedt and Robin Soderling over an Czech tandem of Michal Tabara and Pavel Vizner on Day 4.

In the four-nation Blue Group, Italy (1-1) beat the host Germans 2-1 and Spain (1-1) bested Russia 2-1. Germany (1-1) took a 1-0 lead against Italy with a singles victory on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, Simone Bolelli beat German Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-0) in singles and an Italian duo of Bolelli and Potito Starace stopped a German pairing of Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 to pull out the tie. Spain led Russia 1-0 following a singles victory here on Tuesday, and grabbed an insurmountable 2-0 advantage on Wednesday when Feliciano Lopez leveled Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-4. The Russians (1-1) capped the matchup with a 6-3, 6-4 doubles victory by Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny against a Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Lopez.

The Blue Group's representatives in the semis still have to be decided.