Burgsmuller blow hands Britain victory
Great Britain were handed a victory over Germany in the ARAG ATP World Team Championship when Lars Burgsmuller was forced to retire from the doubles match in Dusseldorf.
The countries were level after splitting the singles matches before British duo Martin Lee and Miles Maclagan won the first set 6-3 against Burgsmuller and Nicolas Kiefer.
Then at 2-1 in the second, Burgsmuller could not continue due to pulled muscles in his back and Britain were awarded the match.
Burgsmuller’s retirement followed his match-saving 6-3 6-3 victory over Lee in the singles competition.
Burgsmuller and Lee’s match began outdoors, but rain forced the matches to move into the Dusseldorf Ice Hockey Stadium.
Tim Henman had defeated Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 in the first match played outdoors before rain halted play.
Henman said: ‘‘Nicolas had his chances, but couldn’t capitalise. The first set was definitely a struggle for me, but I won the big points.’’
The Britons are next in action on Friday when they play Russia in their final Blue Group match.
In the other match yesterday, Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov teamed up to give Russia their first victory in the Championship by winning the deciding doubles rubber.
The Russian duo defeated the Spanish team of Alex Corretja and Albert Costa 6-7 (7/1) 6-3 10-5 in the match tie-break.
Safin also won his singles match for the second time this week defeating Alex Corretja in straight sets.
Safin said: ‘‘He’s a difficult opponent and you have to work hard to beat him. I tried to play my game and to be patient. I’m very happy that I served well.
‘‘We want to win this tournament and it’s important for us.’’
Kafelnikov’s struggle on clay this year continued as the Russian was defeated in straight sets by Albert Costa.
