Ferrer puts Spain in sight of Davis Cup final

The United States’ grip on the Davis Cup was further loosened as David Ferrer beat Andy Roddick in a five-set epic to give Spain a 2-0 lead after today’s semi-final singles rubbers.

Following on from Rafael Nadal’s victory over Sam Querrey, Ferrer showed tremendous fight to put Spain in total control of the tie with a 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 1-6 6-4 8-6 victory.

Roddick boomed down 23 aces – more than double Ferrer’s tally and also more than Nadal and Querrey produced together in the first match – but it was not enough to save the defending Davis Cup champions from another defeat.

Roddick, the world number eight, will be left to wonder quite how the match managed to slip away from him though after he bounced back from a narrow loss in the first set to sweep Ferrer aside in the next two.

However, Ferrer managed to turn the momentum away from his opponent and backed by an increasingly noisy home crowd of around 20,000 people at Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring, took the win.

Earlier, Davis Cup debutant Querrey was pitted against world number one Nadal in the opening rubber after replacing James Blake – who pulled out due to exhaustion – in the US team.

It looked like a mis-match but 20-year-old Querrey gave Nadal, 22, a scare by taking the first set before the Spaniard sealed a 6-7 (7/5) 6-4 6-3 6-4 win.

Spain are now one win away from the Davis Cup final, with Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco taking on Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish in tomorrow’s doubles.