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They say statistics never lie but they were certainly deceiving for Chris Guccione as Australia slumped to a morale-sapping 2-0 deficit on the opening day of their Davis Cup tie against Chile.
Guccione went down in four sets in a thrilling match against Athens gold medallist Nicolas Massu while world No.11 Fernando Gonzalez was ruthless in disposing of the underdone Peter Luczak 6-2 6-2 6-3 in the World Group Play-Off tie.
“It’s a disappointing day and we feel pretty flat,” Australia captain John Fitzgerald said in the mining town of Antofagasta, northern Chile.
“It’s funny how days like this can go in different directions.
“If Gucc had won the two tiebreaks instead of losing them (in the first two sets) we’d probably be one-all here and Gonzo was pretty impressive today.
“We just have to try and regroup now and put our best foot forward in the doubles (starting Sunday 0200 AEST).”
The small band of Australian fans who watched the action had little to cheer about at the picturesque beachside Estadio Militar claycourt and grew quieter by the hour.
A win for world No.80 Guccione was always going to be crucial because Luczak, on the comeback trail from a fractured pelvis, was up against power-hitter Gonzalez, a man in red-hot form and playing on his favourite surface in front of a vocal home crowd.
Guccione, Australia’s spearhead in the absence of the injured Lleyton Hewitt, won more points than Massu (150 to 145), hit more winners (84 to 50) and served 24 aces but still lost the match 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (7-2).
The problem was an astonishing 76 unforced errors – including 47 in the opening two sets – in an absorbing match lasting three hours, 48 minutes.
His boom serve, which was on song, is tailor-made for tiebreaks yet he lost all three against world No.108 Massu.
“His record in tie-breakers is pretty good (40-33 on the ATP Tour) and a guy like him plays a lot of them,” Fitzgerald noted.
“One tiebreak was 7-4, one was 7-5. It’s only a few points.
“I thought for a fair amount of the match he was equally if not the better player but you have to win the tiebreakers if you can’t break serve.”
When questioned about his high error rate, Guccione responded: “I play an aggressive game.
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