Davis Cup - Spain captures their third title at Mar del Plata

The Spanish team defeated in an amazing way the host team Argentina at the Davis Cup and captured their third title in a decade. Fernando Verdasco won the tournament final on Sunday when he beat in 3 hours and 56 minutes the Argentinean Jose Acasuso in five sets 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, giving Spain a 3-1 lead and the title of the Davis Cup.

This was the first lost of Argentina in 10 years at home in Davis Cup games; however, this was also their first final at home and therefore, the team had great expectations of winning their first David Cup title this time since they were the favorites after the Spanish Rafael Nadal got injured before the final.

For its part, Spain won their first title on the road, after having won in 2000 and 2004 against Australia and U.S respectively at home.

Verdasco replaced David Ferrer due to injury and the 48th ranked Acasuso replaced the No.9 of the world Juan Martín Del Potro due to a pull muscle injury he suffered on Friday's match against Lopez.

The game was held in the indoor Islas Malvinas Arena at Mar del Plata in front of more than 11,000 fans. At the beginning of the game, Acasuso started a little nervous by loosing his serve in the fifth game of the first set and making three unforced errors consecutively. But after losing the first set, Acasuso began the second set with more confidence breaking the serve of his opponent in the second game, Verdasco for his part made two double-faults afterwards. During the second and third set Acasuso was playing great tennis and Verdasco was losing his focus but not his confidence. In the fourth and fifth set Verdasco came back consistently leveling the set and having brilliant shots. Moreover, Acasuso became tired and discouraged so Verdasco took advantage of that and wrapped up the match winning the fifth set 6-1.

Verdasco, who was ecstatic after the game, expressed that “It's the most exciting victory of my life. It's like a dream come true and it's a great day for all the people in Spain". He also added that “In the Davis Cup, you have to fight to the death and you always have to keep your hope of winning. This mental strength helped me win the match."

This was an historic victory for Verdasco and his team, not only by capturing the title but also reaching another incredible win in sports this year for Spain. Definitely this year was incredible for Spain; Nadal was amazing on his tennis season by taking the No.1 spot in the ATP and winning Wimbledon and the French Open. On the other hand; the Spanish Soccer team won the EURO 2008, the Spain's delegation captured 18 medals at the Olympics (the best in their history), in cycling, Alberto Contador won the Giro d' Italia and the Spanish Vuelta and Carlos Sastre won the Tour of France, and finally the Spaniard Fernando Alonso won two races at the end of this year's Formula 1 championship, which gives hope of a new title for next year.

As everybody can see, all this accomplishments prove that Spain is getting stronger in several sports, and that their tennis is also getting bigger. Even without the No.1 Nadal, the team achieved the title, which demonstrates that Spain has more talented tennis players that could get to the top in the ATP in the future.