Davis Cup Wrap: Semis Set

The semifinals of the 2011 edition of the Davis Cup are set, as well as the field for the World Group Playoffs.  Here's the scores along with some commentary on the weekend gone by, which included mostly expected but some unexpected results.

World Group QF
SRB 4 SWE 1 - The withdrawal of Soderling made this tie a blowout.  Interestingly enough, Djokovic skipped the singles and played only doubles, which he lost with Zimonjic.
ARG 5 KAZ 0 - No miracle performance this time from the Kazakhs as the Argentines easily took care of business.
ESP 3 USA 1 - Bottom line is Spain was better throughout this tie.  Credit David Ferrer for dropping only one set combined against Fish and Roddick.  I was surprised by the Americans unable to get over the hump in any rubber and they lose to Spain for the first time on home soil.
FRA 4 GER 1 - Mayer was up 2 sets to love against Gasquet and then everything went south (or maybe west) as the German #1 cramped.  I think France has a legitimate shot at the title.

Semifinal matchups to be contested the week after the US Open:
-ARG at SRB
-FRA at ESP
Both should be good matchups, and all deep teams (except maybe Serbia but they have Djokovic).  Hard to pick favorites at this point, though you probably like Spain on clay.

Europe/Africa Zonal Group I
ITA 5 SLO 0 - Italians cruise as expected.
RSA 3 NED 1 - As expected, the tie came down to the doubles and Anderson/Haase, and the South Africans won both.
SUI 5 POR 0 - Swiss cruise as expected.  Now we'll see if Federer shows up for the playoff tie.

Next round:  Italy, South Africa, and Switzerland (plus Israel from earlier) advance to World Group Playoffs (matchups later in this post).
Relegation ties - POL at FIN, UKR at SVK

Americas Zonal Group I
CAN 3 ECU 2 - The Canadians come back from down 2-0 on the road on clay.  Impressive!
BRA 5 URU 0 - Brazil is back to the playoffs after an impressive road drubbing of Uruguay.  Though to be fair, Pablo Cuevas never showed.

Next round:  Canada and Brazil advance to World Group Playoffs.
Relegation playoff tie - MEX at ECU (loser plays COL in relegation tie in Oct)

Asia/Pacific Zonal Group I
AUS 3 CHN 1 - Hewitt and Tomic get it done on the road.
JPN 4 UZB 1 - Nishikori won 3 live rubbers for the Japs, including a clinching win over Istomin
NZL 5 PHI 0 (relegation playoff)

Next round:  Australia and Japan advance to World Group Playoffs.
Relegation tie - TPE at PHI

Europe/Africa Zonal Group II
Promotion playoffs:
GBR 4 LUX 1 - Three live rubber wins for Andy Murray including a triple bagel on day 1.
HUN 3 BLR 2 - Hungary got 2 wins on day 3, including one by Attila the Hun.
BIH 3 EST 2 - Amer Delic won all 3 points for Bosnia.
DEN 3 LAT 2 - Live 5th rubber win by Dane Martin Pederson.
Relegation ties:
IRL 3 TUN 2 - The Irish came back from down 2-1.
CYP 3 BUL 2 - Baghdatis won all 3 points for Cyprus, no Dimitrov for Bulgaria.
MAR 5 LTU 0 - No Berankis, no luck for Lithuania.  Morocco hangs on in Group II with El Amrani.
MON 3 GRE 2 - This really was a sweep.

Next round:  Promotion ties - HUN at GBR, BIH at DEN
Relegated to Zonal Group III - Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Tunisia (GER and TUN make an immediate return)

Americas Zonal Group II
Promotion playoffs:
PER 3 DOM 1 - Three points for young Duilio Beretta.
PAR 3 VEN 1
Relegation ties:
ESA 3 ATO 2 - Live 5th rubber win for Rafael Arevalo
PUR 4 HAI 1

Next round:  Promotion tie - PER at PAR
Relegated to Zonal Group III - Haiti and Netherlands Antilles (HAI makes an immediate return)

Asia/Pacific Zonal Group II
Promotion playoffs:
KOR 4 PAK 0
THA 4 INA 1
Relegation ties:
HKG 4 SYR 1
PAC 4 IRI 1

Next round:  Promotion tie - THA at KOR
Relegated to Zonal Group III - Iran and Syria (both make an immediate return)

Americas Zonal Group III
This group had promotion and relegation round robins.
Promotion pool:  BAR, BOL, CRC, GUA - Result:  Barbados and Bolivia promoted to Zonal Group II (immediate return for BOL)
Relegation pool:  ARU, BAH, HON, JAM - Result:  Honduras and Jamaica relegated to Zonal Group IV (immediate return for HON)

World Group Playoff Ties (2011)
Here are the 16 playoff teams (* denotes was in World Group last year, number in parentheses indicated last year country was in World Group or last year country was in a zonal group)

-Australia (2007), Austria* (2010), Belgium* (2009), Brazil (2003), Canada (2004), Chile* (2008), Croatia* (2008), Czech Republic* (2006), India* (2009), Italy (2000), Israel (2010), Japan (1985), Romania* (2010), Russia* (1992 as CIS), South Africa (1998), Switzerland (2010)

The Draw:
-CZE at ROU
-BRA at RUS (1st ever meeting)
-CAN at ISR (1st ever meeting)
-CRO at RSA (1st ever meeting)
-ITA at CHI
-IND at JPN
-AUT at BEL
-SUI at AUS

Also, a little Fed Cup news as the tsunami-delayed World Group II playoff tie between Japan and Argentina takes place this weekend in Kobe, Japan.  Dulko will not be playing for the Argentines, neither will Molinero while Date-Krumm is sitting it out for Japan.  I would expect Japan to win fairly easily.