Top-seed American Mardy Fish withdrew from Newport last week to answer to Davis Cup duties for the United States, who had a quarterfinal tie against Croatia. Fast forward to today, and 32-time Davis Cup winner Team USA was eliminated by Croatia 3-2, as Fish lost his singles rubber while James Blake lost both his singles rubbers.
All is not lost for the US, however, as one lucky loser in American Rajeev Ram, a 25-year old pro then ranked 181st in the world, replaced Fish in the Newport draw. To the uninitiated, a lucky loser is a player who lost in the final qualifying round of a tournament, only to be entered into the tournament's main draw because of a late withdrawal. How lucky Ram turned out to be, as he beat fellow American Sam Querrey in the finals at Newport to win his first ATP World Tour singles title. The victory earned Rajeev 250 ranking points and allowed him to move up 73 spots to a career-high 108th in the world.
As for the rest of the Davis Cup World Group 2009 quarterfinal results, Israel shocked Russia 4-1, The Czech Republic bested Argentina 3-2, and Spain beat Germany 3-2. Israel will battle holders Spain while The Czech Republic squares off against Croatia in the semifinals scheduled in September.
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