Nalbandian a surprise hero in first round

Apart from Novak Djokovic and his Serbs, the hero of the first round of World Group Davis Cup matches was someone who, 48 hours before the start of play on Friday, was on the other side of the world and wasn’t going to play.

Let Argentina’s captain, Tito Vazquez, tell the story from his hotel room in Stockholm: “On Wednesday, I get a call from David Nalbandian who has been injured. He says, ‘If you need me I can play doubles.’ I say, ‘Of course we need you.’ So he flies in and plays the doubles with Horacio Zaballos and they win. Then we lose the fourth rubber to Robin Soderling. Ten minutes before the final match we don’t know if David is able or willing to play. But he says ‘OK’ and plays. And we win. Amazing.”

Vazquez, who learned his tennis at UCLA in the days of Jimmy Connors, was looking exhausted.

“It is tough on the players but also the captain in Davis Cup,” he said. “You have to sit and suffer. One match finishes, you take the guy to the dressing room and come straight back with the next one. So, yes, I am a little tired — but it’s OK.”

Nalbandian enabled Argentina to pull of this unlikely win over Sweden by beating Andreas Vinciguerra, who seems to only appear in Davis Cup these days, 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Nalbandian admitted he did not feel great, but was well enough to get the job done.

Argentina will now meet Russia, which secured its quarterfinal berth with an easy win over India.

It is impossible to overlook the fact that some top players had opted out of the early stages of this year’s Davis Cup competition, and results reflected that. Obviously Patrick McEnroe’s team had less of a chance in Belgrade due to the absence of Andy Roddick and James Blake, though it would be hard to fault John Isner and Sam Querrey for the effort they put in.

And would Switzerland have lost 4-1 to Spain in a bullring at Logrono had Roger Federer been playing? The answer to that, of course is maybe ... if Rafael Nadal had been playing for Spain, which he wasn’t. As it turned out, David Ferrer wrapped it up for the Spaniards in the fourth rubber with a crushing 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Stan Wawrinka.

Spain now travels to France in July for a riveting encounter with Guy Forget’s team. With Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in top form, France sank Germany in the naval port of Toulon and will now have to decide where and on what to play the Spaniards. Word is that Forget favors an indoor stadium despite the date because his opponents seem to not do as well in those conditions. For that reason, as well as the fact that so many people leave Paris in July, Roland Garros has been ruled out.

In other World Group ties, the Czech Republic beat Belgium and Croatia — which now faces an emotive tie against Serbia — overwhelmed Ecuador 5-0.

But the absence of big names had its effect further down the scale. In the Africa/Europe Zone Group One, Latvia lost 4-1 to the Ukraine — a result that might well have been reversed had Ernests Gulbis, the winner at Delray Beach last week, elected to play.

And then there was the sad story of Britain — a Britain in Lithuania without Andy Murray. Yes, incredibly, they lost. Lithuania does have a genuinely talented young player in Ricardos Berankis and he duly won both his singles. But their No. 2, Laurynes Gregelis, is not supposed to be in the same class — a fact that gave British Davis Cup captain John Lloyd hope going into the fifth and deciding rubber.

Hope, however, was dashed as Gregelis played brilliantly to defeat Daniel Evans 6-4 in the fifth and commit Britain to the desperate prospect of having to play Turkey to stay out of the cellar of Davis Cup groupings.