By Jonathan Sanfilippo
Staff Reporter
While it seems unlikely that South Korea will advance past Germany in the first round of the Davis Cup, Lee Hyung-taik was able to provide his country with at least one memorable achievement at the premier international team event in men's tennis.
Lee beat Florian Mayer 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 6-7 (7), 6-3 in singles on Friday in Braunschweig, Germany, making him the first South Korean player to win a match at the World Group level of the famed tournament, which has a history dating back more than a century.
''I am happy that I won for my country,'' Lee said on the Davis Cup's Web site.
Lee's historic win is one of the few Davis Cup highlights for South Korea, which is making its first World Group appearance since 1987. The Koreans lost two other first-round matches and appear to be on the brink of elimination, as they trail Germany 2-1 in the team scoring.
After Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber won the opening singles match on Friday 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 against Korea's An Jae-sung to give the Germans a 1-0 lead, Lee and Mayer took the clay court for a dramatic match in front of about 4,000 spectators at Volkswagen Halle.
They battled back and forth exchanging points for 3 hours, 46 minutes. Lee, who is ranked No. 44 in the world, squandered a two-set lead against the 68th-ranked German, before winning the fifth set to clinch the match.
It was a rare victory on a clay surface for Lee, who had won just one Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) match on clay during the past two years.
''Now I am exhausted, I think even a little bit more than Mayer," Lee said, after his win put Korea in a 1-all tie with Germany. "The first two sets went pretty easy, but then Mayer played more aggressive. I am happy, now we still have the opportunity to win the tie."
The tie didn't last, though. Tired after his singles victory, Lee pulled out of a doubles match on Saturday. The German pair of Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner won that match 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 against Jun Woong-sun and An, who stepped in as Lee's replacement, to give Germany a 2-1 lead.
"We didn't expect it so easy," Petzschner said. "We had a good start and that was the key. In the second set, the Koreans had some chances but we were alert. It was a good match."
Lee is expected to return to the court Sunday to play Kohlschreiber, the 28th-ranked player in the world, in reverse singles, while An will play either Mayer or Petzschner.
In other Davis Cup first-round competitions, Argentina leads Great Britain 3-0, the Czech Republic leads Belgium 3-0, France leads Romania 3-0, Isreal leads Sweden 2-1, Russia leads Serbia 2-1, Spain leads Peru 3-0, and the United States leads Austria 3-0.