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Tuesday's action concluded with Spain
completing victory over Russia just before 2 a.m. (0100 GMT)
local time and Wednesday's programme went even later.
The tie between Italy and the United States did not even start
until 1:25 a.m. due to the late-running of the day matches and
was further prolonged by tiebreaks in all three matches,
ultimately ending past 4 a.m.
Sam Querrey and Jack Sock had to rally from a set down to
prevail over Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini as the United
States defeated Italy 2-1 -- though both teams failed to
advance.
“I’m tired for sure,” Fognini said.
Each tie, played on one of the three courts at the complex,
consists of two singles matches followed by a doubles rubber.
Britain's Group E match against the Netherlands began at 11 a.m.
but it took eight and three quarter hours to complete. Andy
Murray had needed almost three hours to beat Tallon Griekspoor
before Dan Evans lost to Robin Haase, also in three sets.
Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski then beat Wesley Koolhof and Jean-Julien
Rojer 6-4 7-6(6) but only after saving two set points in the
second set. Had they not the Belgium and Australian fans outside
in the drafty concourses would have been waiting even longer to
cheer their teams on.
Germany's 3-0 Group C win against Argentina on Court 2 also ran
late -- not by helped by the doubles rubber between Andreas Mies
and Kevin Krawietz and Leonardo Mayer and Maximo Gonzalez
involving three tiebreaks, the last of which ran to 38 points.
"It's one of the longest days I've had sitting in the chair,"
Britain's captain Leon Smith said. "It's been another day of
incredible drama."
The re-jigged Davis Cup format effectively squeezes a
competition in which "home and away" World Group ties were
played in February, April and September into one hectic week at
a neutral venue. Eighteen nations have assembled in Madrid with
25 individual ties to be played in seven days.
Spain's Rafael Nadal expressed his concern at the late matches
on Tuesday, after the deciding doubles rubber in Spain's tie
started at 28 minutes past midnight.
"That makes big trouble for us, for the players and the same
time for the people who are coming to the stadium," he said.
Australian skipper Lleyton Hewitt, one of the fiercest critics
of the ITF's decision to revamp the competition, was also
concerned about the impact on his players who were also playing
late into the night on Tuesday against Colombia.
"No doubt it's a problem," he said. "It throws your sleeping
pattern, eating, the guys have to get treatment after these
matches, and then a lot of the times you've got to bounce back
the next day as well," said Hewitt.
"It's just another thing we're dealing with this week."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, Additional reporting by Jahmal
Corner in Los Angeles; editing by Pritha Sarkar/Peter
Rutherford)
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