Davis Cup: Argentina is looking for the Final against Finland under the cold of Espoo but with a warm heart

Argentina will begin its journey this Saturday in the 2023 edition of a Davis Cup which is still involved in doubts about its future, after the breaking of the contract between the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Kosmos group, led by Gerard Piqué.

The lottery held this Friday established it Pedro Cachín opens the series against Emil Ruusuvuori, 43 in the world, in what will be his debut ever in the competition. It will be played on Saturday at 12. Followed by Francesco Cerundolo vs. Otto Virtanen, 181 in the world rankings. The doubles will be played on Sunday at 8 and before the last two singles Machi González and Andrés Molteni in front of the pairing of Rusuvuori and Harri Heliovara (10th in the ranking of couples, even if his partner is usually the British Lloyd Glasspool). All matches will be broadcast by TyC Sports.

The team led by Guillermo Coria will be looking for a win in the Qualifiers to enter the finals for the second consecutive year and will, for various reasons, have a great challenge against Finlandin the frost espoo.

The Argentines will not have two of their great figures of recent years, diego schwartzmannthe best ranked tennis player in our country (28th), e Horace Zeballos, 13th in the world in doubles. The two, with a long history in this competition, will be absent from the series with notice and for logical reasons: they come from playing in the heat of Australia and will now face the South American brick dust tour, so a trip to the Northern cold was not compatible with their calendars. Nor will it Sebastian Baez47th of the ATP.

Likewise, Coria has managed to put together a “great team”, as he has assured in recent days. Francis Cerundolo, 31st in the world, will be the first single. The 24-year-old from Buenos Aires, champion last year in Bastad, arrives confident after a Australian Open in which she reached the third round and won matches in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time. Fran he will be looking for his first win in Davis. He lost the two duels played in the group stage last year, in Bologna, against Jannik sinner AND Born Coric.

“It’s something pending for me, a nice goal. I hope I can achieve it against Finland. I feel prepared,” he said in a chat with copadavis.com.

Furthermore cachin27 years old and 68th in the standings in one of the best moments of his career, the other single player called up is Facundo Bagnis32 years old, 68th in the ATP and who also didn’t make his debut in Davis.

“Cachín deserves this chance. He had a great 2022, he was able to establish himself on the circuit and show the level he has been carrying for a long time. And Bagnis is also a reward for the effort. He is a great person, which adds a lot”. commented the captain.

“Last year there were players who had a better year than me and had earned their place. Today I feel it’s my time to make my debut. I feel prepared and calm, even if surely hours before entering field fears or anxiety,” commented the man from Cordoba, who has yet to win a game this season (lost in Adelaide, Auckland and making his debut in Melbourne).

Bagnis had been called up for the duel against Colombia for the Qualifiers, played in March 2020, but did not have to play. “The desire remained and I’m back with the illusion intact. Representing Argentina is always the best thing. It’s been one of the things that has always given me strength, motivation and energy to keep pushing. That’s why I enjoy it these chances double. It’s a very complicated series, but it’s a good challenge, which is very exciting,” the man from Santa Fe told the AT extension.

Doubles will complement it Andrew Molteni36° of that specialty, e Massimo Gonzalez45th, a couple with a long history in the circuit (with a 77 percent effectiveness, 25 victories in 33 games played together) and which, last October, was crowned in the Gijon ATPon an indoor hard court.

“We played with Andrés a bit in 2022, but when we won that title, we decided to compete together throughout the season,” said the Tandil man, who played one of his 12 ‘cups’ series with Molteni.

It was in the 2017 World Group playoffs, when they lost to Timur Khabibulin and Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the match that Argentina lost 3-2 to kazakhstan in Astana. It was the only game Molteni played in the tournament.

Ruusuvuori, the great threat

On the other side of the net there will be opponents who are very used to playing on indoor hard courts and who become strong at home, led by Emil Ruusuvuorionly 23 years old, but with more Davis experience than the entire Argentine team combined.

The man born in Helsinki made his debut in this competition in 2017, in a duel against Georgia as hosts, for the first round of World Group II, which Finland lost 3-2. Since then, he has played 17 games, 14 in singles and three in doubles, with a record of 9-5 in singles and 2-1 in tag duels.

Of the three albiceleste rackets that have already made their debut in the competition, they have only played 15 games. The two from Cerúndolo, last year in Bologna, the only one played by Molteni, against Kazakhstan in 2017, and the twelve from González, all in doubles, with a record of six celebrations and as many falls.

Ruusuvuori comes from living the best season of his short career, in which he played his first ATP final (in Pune) and reached his best ranking (40th place). And though they’ve barely won one of their four games so far this year (to reach the second round in Australia), the Argentines know they shouldn’t be trusted.

“He’s a player who’s growing a lot, has great pace with the ball and a great level on fast pitches,” analyzed Cachín.

The other strong point of the place is Harri Eliovaara10th in the world in doubles, holder of four titles – and finalist six other times, all in 2022 – and champion this year in Adelaide.

“He is a great doubles specialist. He returns very well, plays fast from below, perhaps his weak point is that he is a bit irregular with his serve. In the middle of last year he started to do very well and managed to enter the top 10. I don’t know who he will play with, but it will be a difficult point” González said.

The team led by Jarkko Nieminen they complete it Otto Virtanen, 181st in the world and last year’s winner of the Bergamo Challenger, on a field similar to that of the series; AND Patrick Nikolas AND I was vase129th and 348th in doubles, respectively.

“Argentina has a lot of quality among their players and the level will be very high. Our goal is to take advantage of playing at home,” said Ruusuvuori.

The surface, the last great challenge

Since Argentina, seed 11, and Finland had met only once in the history of Davis Cup and that duel was before 1970 (in 1960, in Helsinki, with a 5-0 victory for the Albiceleste) , the place was decided by lottery . And luck has favored the Europeans, who will have the advantage of playing at home and on a hard indoor surface, where they feel too comfortable.

Those led by Coria had to make a quick double adjustment. First in the Finnish cold, after spending the start of the season in the Australian summer. In Espoo, temperatures between -1 and -11 degrees are forecast for the two days of the series, with the possibility of snow on Sunday.

“Even if we’re inside, the cold makes itself felt and this means that the ball is no longer fast, it’s a ball that gets big and slow and that’s why it doesn’t come out of the racket so much. You have to pay some attention to that ” analyzed Bagnis.

Secondly, to a court they were only able to see on Thursday, despite having arrived in the Scandinavian country earlier in the week. is that the Espoo Metro Arena hosted a recital on Tuesday, so the Argentines had to train between Monday and Wednesday at the Tali Tennis Center From helsinki, half an hour from the headquarters complex. Finally, the official court did not turn out to be as fast as expected.

“It’s a surface the guys are used to on the track. The speed is normal, neither too fast nor slow, so we’re satisfied, the guys have good timing and that leaves us calm,” said Coria.

Molteni agrees: “The speed is similar to the ATP tournaments on the indoor circuit. In the other club the pitch was a little faster, here he has quite good speed. The surface is rough and the ball itself is big, so it’s it opens up a bit. We’ll have to hit it hard and fix something with the tension of the strings.”

The Argentinian team wants to take a win to qualify, like last year, for the group stage of the Finals, which will take place from 12 to 17 September in four venues to be confirmed. And from there, reach the Malaga playoffs again, scheduled for the penultimate week of November.

It won’t be an easy task against a tough rival like Ruusuvuori’s Finland and on a surface that is far from being the albicelesti’s favourite. But Coria and her players are thrilled.

The schedule of the series

• Emil Ruusuvori vs. Pedro Cachin (Saturday at 12)
• Otto Virtanen vs. Francis Cerundolo (Next)
• Harri Haliovaara/Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Maximo González/Andrés Molteni (Sunday at 8)
• Ruusuvuori vs. closing it (Next)
• Virtane vs. cachin (Next)