Chileans Concede Point to Americans

Suspense was in limited quantity at Mission Hills Country Club.

A nanosecond, perhaps? Two, if you want to push things.

Chilean journeymen Paul Capdeville and Adrian Garcia, late substitutes for Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu, on Saturday were tossed into the Davis Cup deep end against the world’s No. 1-ranked doubles team, twins Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo, and the outcome was numbingly predictable. The Bryans won, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

The quality, or lack thereof, of the opponents didn’t bother the Bryans. “We just want to get a point,” Bob Bryan said. “I don’t care who we beat. I don’t care if I go out there and beat you.”

There were only two issues to resolve after it became clear the Bryans would give the U.S. a 2-1 lead in the quarterfinal: Would the Chileans last past an hour, and would Bob Bryan lose a point on his serve?

Yes and yes. The match lasted 62 minutes and Bob Bryan finally lost a point on his serve -- match point in the final game. “I took a little off on match point,” he said. “Threw them a bone.”

The greater intrigue on Saturday had to do with the maneuvering for the final day. By essentially conceding the doubles point, and resting a weary Gonzalez, Chilean Captain Hans Gildemeister put it all on the table for today’s reverse singles.

“In the beginning, my idea was to be alive on Sunday,” Gildemeister said. “Because on Sunday, anything can happen, especially knowing Fernando and Nicolas. Andy [Roddick] is not playing his best tennis. Fernando has improved very much.”

Roddick is up first today against Gonzalez, who gave Chile a 1-0 lead with his epic, come-from-behind five-set victory against James Blake on Friday. The Chileans are hoping the quarterfinal will be decided by the fifth match, Blake against Massu.

Dean Goldfine, filling in for absent U.S. Captain Patrick McEnroe, understood the doubles reasoning.

“I think once you’ve pulled one of them out, you might as well pull both out,” he said. “If that’s the case, in terms of [Gonzalez’s] bad shoulder, I think it was the right call.”

Gonzalez has been long troubled by an ailing shoulder, though Gildemeister declared it “perfect.” Of course, he wasn’t about to admit to anything else.

Meanwhile, Goldfine was doing his own advance work Saturday. He was upset Friday when Gonzalez received two injury timeouts in the fifth set, and made a point of approaching referee Paulo Pereira to make sure there wasn’t any future confusion.

“I’m not a very excitable guy, I don’t have a bad temper,” Goldfine said. “I was [upset] yesterday because I felt they abused the rules, took advantage of it.”

He said that Pereira apparently missed the first timeout because he was dealing with unruly fans.

“When the second one came around for cramps, [the Chileans] said the first one was for a strained muscle. He couldn’t argue with them. I just said, maybe next time, it’s more important for you to make sure you stay here and let one of the other chair umpires or somebody else take care of the unruly fans.”

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Australia, a 28-time Davis Cup champion, became the first nation to clinch a spot in the semifinals, taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Belarus when Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley outlasted Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov, 3-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, in the doubles at Melbourne.

Argentina took a 2-1 lead over Croatia on the strength of a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 doubles victory by David Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso over Ivan Ljubicic and Marin Cilic at Zagreb.

France cut Russia’s lead to 2-1 with a doubles victory at Pau, France. Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra blew a two-set lead before rallying for a 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 5-7, 6-2 win over Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.