Seppi levels for Italy against Kazakhstan
Andreas Seppi beat Andrey Golubev to put Italy level at 1-1 with hosts Kazakhstan in a Davis Cup World Group first round tie in Almaty on Friday. The 31-year-old Seppi won 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 in what was his first ever meeting with Golubev, the rubber lasting two hours 34 minutes at the hardcourts of the National Tennis Centre. Seppi, currently 35th in the world, broke twice in the opening set to move a set up after 39 minutes. In the second set Seppi broke early again and held onto his advantage to go two sets up. Golubev stayed in contention by taking the third set on a tiebreak, but Seppi dominated the fourth to level the match scores. "It was a tense match," Seppi said. "For me it was very important to come into the match rightly and I did it winning two sets from the start. "In the third set I lost focus for a while but managed to come back in the fourth to level the score after the first day." Earlier Friday Mikhail Kukushkin put Kazakhstan 1-0 up with a straight-set win over Simone Bolelli 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 6-2 in two hours 22 minutes. The players traded breaks in the opening set, which Kukushkin, who is 58th in the world, won in a tiebreak. In the second Kukushkin moved up a gear breaking his opponent's serve twice to take the set in 43 minutes for a comfortable 2-0 lead. In the third Kukushkin underlined his domination by producing two more breaks to take the set and the match, sealing the victory with an ace. "To be honest I had been expecting a much tougher match," Kukushkin said. "I didn't expect to win so easy today. But I'm pleased that I managed to conserve my strength and nerves for Sunday's match (against Seppi) which will definitely be much tougher challenge."
