Fish gives U.S. 1-0 lead against host Swiss

Tennis Betting Lines

02/10/2012 - Fribourg, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mardy Fish outlasted Stanislas Wawrinka in a five-set thriller Friday, as the visiting United States grabbed a 1-0 lead against Switzerland in their best-of-five opening-round Davis Cup showdown.

The world No. 8 Fish, playing on his worst surface, came from behind to best the 28th-ranked Wawrinka 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 9-7 on red clay at Forum Fribourg. The grueling rubber finally ended after 4 hours, 26 minutes when Fish converted on his third match point with a cross-court volley winner.

Fish, who improved to 7-7 in his career Davis Cup singles, wound up with 15 aces and broke Wawrinka's serve seven times, compared to four breaks for the Swiss loser.

Friday's second opening singles rubber will pit the great Roger Federer against 6-foot-9 American John Isner. This will mark the 16-time Grand Slam champion Federer's first World Group action since 2004, as he has played in only a few playoffs and zonal matchups since then.

Saturday's doubles in Fribourg will pit an American tandem of Mike Bryan and Ryan Harrison against a powerful Swiss pairing of Federer and Wawrinka, who were the gold medal winners at the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing in 2008. Bob Bryan made himself unavailable to play doubles for the U.S. this week after his wife gave birth to their first child last week.

Sunday's reverse singles currently call for the former world No. 1 and currently third-ranked Federer to battle Fish and Wawrinka to encounter Isner.

The 32-time Davis Cup champion Americans are playing here without injured star Andy Roddick.

The U.S. is 2-1 all-time versus Switzerland, including a victory in the final back in 1992. The Swiss, however, are 1-0 all-time against the Americans on home soil, with the victory coming 11 years ago in Basel.

Team USA is captained former world No. 1 star Jim Courier, while Switzerland, which has never captured the Davis Cup, is led by Severin Luthi.

The USA-Switzerland winner will meet the Canada-France victor in the quarterfinals in April.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.