Davis Cup Win May Be My Greatest – Haider-Maurer

Defeating Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the Davis Cup may be the greatest triumph of Andreas Haider-Maurer’s career, the Austrian tennis player said Saturday.

World no. 127 Haider-Maurer beat no.34-ranked Bogomolov, who was making his debut for Russia, 6-1, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 on Friday to give Austria a 2-0 lead in Wiener Neustadt and hope of reaching their first Davis Cup quarter-final since 1995.

“That’s one of my biggest wins, if not the biggest. We’re talking about the Davis Cup here, the World Group, the first time for me in my own country, that’s really amazing,” Haider-Maurer told Austrian website tennisnet.com.

“The first one and a half sets were my best tennis. In the third set I got a bit more passive when closing it out and played a bad tiebreak.”

Earlier, Austria’s Jurgen Melzer, ranked no. 40 in the world, edged out Russian world no. 79 Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the first rubber.

Austrian captain Clemens Trimmel, 33, said that he was surprised to take a 2-0 lead in his first Davis Cup tie as captain, but remained focused on picking up the third point needed for victory.

“Everyone played very well. Jurgen and Andi gave great performances mentally more than anything, had the right body language too, although there were some dicey moments,” Tremmel told the website.

“The first day went great, but we’re still a long way from the end. I told [the team], ‘Celebrate for ten minutes, then the focus is on tomorrow. Full concentration.’”

Saturday will see a doubles match between Austria’s Oliver Marach and doubles specialist Alexander Peya and the Russian pair of Youzhny and veteran Nikolai Davydenko, the world no. 51.

Melzer will open Sunday’s singles against Bogomolov before Haider-Maurer plays Kunitsyn in the final rubber.

Russia, a two-time champion, has never played Austria in the Davis Cup before, although the Soviet Union won two meetings in the 1980s.