Excitement Builds in Kazakhstan
7/01/2010
By Chris Pike
KAZAKHSTAN is right behind Yaroslava Shvedova and Andrey Golubev’s Hyundai Hopman Cup campaign and a win on Friday against Germany could spark a party for weeks back home.
Kazakhstan’s win over Russia on Wednesday night sees them right back into contention to make the Final. They need to beat Germany and then hope Russia beats Great Britain, and rely on calculations.
To beat Russia, after both Shvedova and Golubev moved to Kazakhstan for greater opportunities, made the victory over Elena Dementieva extra sweet. Golubev starred in the evening Session upsetting Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-3 and then the Russians had no answers in the mixed doubles.
The 22-year-old world No. 133 Golubev was delighted with how he played to beat Andreev.
“I just played my game. I thought before against Andy Murray he is No. 4 and is so fast that I don’t have many chances against him, but against Igor I played good,” Golubev said.
“I did my game on the court and that was the key to the win.”
Golubev also enjoyed getting the win over Russia. He was unlikely going to get to represent Russia at Davis Cup, but now he’s doing Kazakhstan proud in the Hopman Cup.
“Originally we were both from Russia and now have played for Kazakhstan for one year so far. The main reason was for Davis Cup and Federation Cup. In Russia the men’s is a strong team and women’s is even stronger than men’s, so we couldn’t play for our country,” he said.
“When we were born Kazakhstan and Russia was one republic union so it’s like in Australia every state is separate and one from Western Australia goes to play in South Australia.”
Shvedova fought hard to take it right up to world No. 5 Dementieva and play well in the mixed doubles despite still feeling unwell. She is even happier now how all of Kazakhstan is behind her and Golubev.
“Russia and Kazakhstan is also like friends, the countries, but still they compete in a hockey league and things. In Kazakhstan now people are very happy that we beat the Russians because it’s huge,” Shvedova said.
“Russia is almost No. 1 in the women’s tennis and I didn’t show my best game with it tough for me because I don’t have enough energy because I was sick, but it was good that Andrey beat Igor and that we played a very good doubles.
“We improved our game on the match against Britain and I played much better volleys and Andrey was playing so good and getting so many balls to help me, and I was trying to help him also. We make a good team.”
Shvedova is slowly starting to feel better and the 22-year-old world No. 51 was pleased with how their mixed doubles’ tactics came off.
“Every day I’m getting better, but because I’m still playing and practicing every day my recovery is taking longer because I’m giving all I have in the matches and don’t have enough time to recover. I’m trying hard,” she said.
“I was feeling much better with the volley and even when Andrey was returning I was like I’m going into the volley because I was more confident there than on the baseline. I was reacting well on the volley so I played well.
“Elena was doing short shots and we decided to go in because we used it a lot to give us more chances to get the ball in case it kept happening.”
Shvedova will have a big challenge against in-form German Sabine Lisicki on Friday, but will try her best to give Kazakhstan a chance of making the Final.
“I’ll try my best. I will try to recover well, practice a little bit and rest,” she said. “It (making the Final) would be unbelievable. They would celebrate for a couple of weeks.”
Ironically, Kazakhstan now needs Russia to beat Great Britain, but Golubev is looking forward to taking on Philipp Kohlschreiber for the first time.
“It depends on the UK against Russia. I don’t know the rules of Hopman Cup or what happens, but we will try our best. I’ve never played him. We practiced together a few times here so I will try and give my best and I try to play like I did tonight,” Golubev said.
“You have to beat everybody, but you can lose against No. 300 and maybe beat No. 10, it depends on the conditions and the moment of the game. Of course if I played like I did tonight I will have more chances.”
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