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Federer draws Switzerland level

Henry Brown | April 11, 2004 20:57 IST

Roger Federer defeated Arnaud Clement 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to draw Switzerland level at 2-2 in their Davis Cup quarter-final with France on Sunday.

The tie will now be decided in the final singles rubber between Switzerland's Michel Kratochvil, brought in to replace Ivo Heuberger, and Nicolas Escude of France.

Heuberger had been a surprise choice for the opening singles but after being hammered by Clement on Friday, coach Marc Rosset has opted to bring in Kratochvil for the deciding rubber.

World number one Federer, the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, kept Switzerland in the tie with a dominant victory over Clement.

Clement was broken in his first two service games of the match as Federer took control, his power from the baseline equalled by the accuracy of his serving.

The second set went with serve until a series of pin-point returns helped Federer break Clement to love in the 11th game, before he clinched the set 7-5.

The vociferous travelling French supporters attempted to rally Clement but Federer broke again for the fourth time in the rubber in the first game of the third set.

Federer produced some of the finest tennis of the match to hold off Clement's attempts to break back and served out the set 6-4 for victory.

With the countries tied at 1-1 after the singles matches on Friday, Escude and Michael Llodra defeated Federer and Yves Allegro in the doubles on Saturday to give France a 2-1 lead.

Switzerland defeated France in Toulouse at the quarter-final stage last year.

The winner of the tie will play either Spain or the Netherlands in the semi-finals in September.


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