Sweden defied Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic to record a doubles victory against Davis Cup holders Serbia and keep their hopes alive of making the semi-finals on Saturday. Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt gave the home crowd at the Halmstad arena something to cheer about when they warded off elimination, at least until Sunday, with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win over Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic.
"I'm extremely happy with our level. It's really fun winning Davis Cup matches," Aspelin told the TT news agency after the match which left Serbia 2-1 ahead with Sunday's reverse singles to play. After winning both singles rubbers on Friday, Serbia were boosted by the return of world number one Djokovic for the doubles encounter.
Djokovic pulled out of Friday's action citing a knee injury, but was drafted back in to partner Zimonjic who ranks sixth in the world at doubles. That appeared to hand the defending champions a clear advantage when the match began, but Lindstedt and Aspelin, who had played together four times previously in Davis Cup doubles, quickly took the lead, and went on to win in straight sets, Aspelin is playing his last Davis Cup, after announcing that he will retire following next week's Baastad tournament, but if Sweden can keep up their momentum on Sunday, he could yet be asked to stick around for the semi-finals in September.
Sweden are missing their star player, Robin Soderling, and on Sunday Michael Ryderstedt, who was beaten by Viktor Troicki on Friday, can expect to face the mighty Djokovic. The hosts' Ervin Eleskovic, who was forced to bail out in the second set against Janko Tipsarevic in Friday's match with a knee injury, will face Troicki in Sunday's second singles rubber.
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