Tennis
Unfancied Reynolds makes winning European clay start for US
By DPA
May 21, 2008, 22:08 GMT

Dusseldorf, Germany - The pickup doubles side of Bobby Reynolds and Wayne Odesnik powered the US into a battle for the top Red group spot at the ARAG World Team Cup on Wednesday to complete a 2-1 elimination of Argentina.

Reynolds, ranked 102 and called to the side after Andy Roddick withdrew from the clay season with an injury, played and won his career first match at the ATP level on European red clay.

The 25-year-old newcomer produced a lob under pressure which set up a match point in the concluding match tiebreak.

An ensuing service winner ended the 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 10-7 victory over Lucas Arnold and Sebastien Prieto.

On Thursday, the four-time champion Americans face Sweden for the top spot in the round-robin group, with both sides seeking a place in the Saturday final.

James Blake will take on Robin Sodering in the singles while Reynolds gets a test of fire against former Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson.

Sweden completed a 3-0 sweep to eliminate the Czech Republic, Robert Lindstedt and Soderling taking the concluding doubles win over substitute Michal Tabara and experienced Pavel Vizner 6-4, 7-5.

Spain's Feliciano Lopez polished off Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-4 in the rival Blue group to clinch an untouchable 2-0 scoreline before Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny clawed a point back for Russia in doubles against Lopez and Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4.

Germany got into trouble on the way to a 2-1 loss to Italy as Nicolas Kiefer fell to defeat in his 2008 debut at the eight-nation French Open tuneup event.

Kiefer's loss after playing a Hamburg quarter-final last week was the start of the slippery slope for the hosts, who went down to the Italians as Potito Starace and Simone Bolelli defeated Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 in doubles.

The Germans next play Russia with hopes still alive for a place in Saturday's final.

But the Russians will be missing Mikhail Youzhny, who withdrew with a back injury on Wednesday after his winning doubles effort.

Kiefer said his loss was tough. 'It's difficult to find the words, I'm disappointed. I had my chances but maybe I didn't play my best tennis.

'I couldn't put any pressure on him, didn't get many free points on serve and could never get to the net.

'I have things to work on which have bothered me my entire career - it's too bad they happened again here.'

Kiefer's letdown came after missing an opening singles tie due to illness. The hosts held an overnight 1-0 lead after Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Starace.

The 38th-ranked Kiefer is competing at the Rochusclub for the eighth time, with his singles record standing underwater at 9-12.