Bogomolov falls as Austria takes 2-0 lead vs. Russia in Davis Cup

WIENER NEUSTADT, Austria -- Andreas Haider-Maurer defeated No. 1 Russian player Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-2 on Friday to give Austria a 2-0 lead in the first round of the Davis Cup.

Austria needs one more win in the best-of-five series to enter the quarterfinals of the World Group for the first time since 1995.

Russia has managed to win from 2-0 down only once, against Germany in 1995.

Austria's leading player, Jurgen Melzer, battled past Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the early match.

"I don't look at history and statistics," Austria captain Clemens Trimmel said. "We are not there yet. The team has celebrated for 10 minutes and is now focusing on the next match."

The 34th-ranked Bogomolov, who has been living in the United States since 1992 but opted to play for his country of birth, looked nervous on his Davis Cup debut.

In the first two sets, Bogomolov hit only seven winners and earned no break points against the 127th-ranked Austrian.

"This was a sad debut," Bogomolov said through a translator. "I felt well going into the match but I was one step too late. Andy kept going for his shots and pushed me back all the time."

After dropping serve for the fourth time in the match at 3-3 in the third set, Bogomolov suddenly stepped up a gear. He broke back immediately and played flawlessly in the tiebreaker.

"I hoped to turn around the match from there," he said. "But then Andy started to play even better."

Bogomolov dropped serve three times in the fourth set and lost the match on his third double fault.

"This is probably the biggest win of my career," Haider-Maurer said. "I didn't do wrong too much for two sets, but became a bit nervous when I got the chance to wrap up the match in the third set."

Melzer closed out his victory over Kunitsyn with his 23rd ace after just over four hours of play. Austria's No. 1 had more than 80 winners as he overpowered Kunitsyn, who won both previous matches against the Austrian on the ATP tour.

"This is an important win for the team," said Melzer, who is now 17-21 in Davis Cup singles. "If we want to win the tie, I had to win the first match against their No. 2."

Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev had unexpectedly picked the 79th-ranked Kunitsyn instead of his highest ranked player, Mikhail Youzhny, who is 28th after winning an ATP event in Zagreb, Croatia last weekend.

"I played well," Kunitsyn said through a translator. "But Jurgen had the advantage of having the crowd behind him."

The 40th-ranked Melzer gained early control after breaking Kunitsyn's serve in a tight fourth game, which lasted for over 16 minutes.

The Austrian went on to comfortably win the opening set and looked poised for 2-0 before missing three set points at 6-5, allowing Kunitsyn to level.

"After the second set, I knew it was going to be an exhausting battle," said Melzer, who ruled out playing in Saturday's doubles. "This match has cost me a lot of energy. And we have a great doubles team."

The match was more in the balance afterward when Melzer and Kunitsyn shared the next two sets. Melzer had an early break in the decider and added another to quickly wrap up the win.

"Jurgen is a very aggressive player so I tried to drag him into long rallies," Kunitsyn said. "I didn't manage to do that anymore in the fifth set where I lost the second game from 40-15 up. That was obviously not my plan."

In Saturday's doubles, Alexander Peya and Oliver Marach of Austria are scheduled to take on Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko, though pairings are subject to change until one hour before the start of the match.