Finland leads 2–0 after the opening day.
Finland got the hoped-for, but perhaps not completely expected, start to the Davis Cup match against Portugal in the national tennis team competition in Turku. The lead for the second day, i.e. Saturday, is 2–0, when both Otto Virtanen that Emil Ruusuvuori marched to clear victories.
On Saturday, the decision and thus access to the September group games of the Davis Cup may come already in the first doubles game to be played.
Finland's second player Virtanen crushed Portugal's number one player Nuno Borges 6–2, 6–1. Finland's number one player Ruusuvuori also dominated, because João Sousa lost 6–2, 6–3.
Virtanen is used to shining in the Davis Cup and again the victory came from an opponent clearly higher in the world rankings, while Borges, ranked 47th in the ATP ranking, was completely unarmed from the start.
“I played well, I put speed on the ball and corners. Borges maybe felt more uncomfortable (on the pitch in Turkuhalli), but I felt good,” Virtanen calmly summed up.
The euphoria of the great victory was also mixed with relief, because the ankle injury last week could have stopped the DC games completely.
“It didn't get to live there much under the tape. A good way was found during the week, improved on Thursday and that's how it went. It (the injury) didn't really bother me at all,” Virtanen said.
“It was so close to not being able to play at all. On Thursday evening, it was really confirmed. And so there was a bit of a feeling that there is really nothing to lose here. Let's play to the fullest, everything is Plus (after the uncertainty brought by the ankle).”
Virtanen then Ruusuvuori got to the covered table, who, while preparing for his own match, had time to enjoy watching Virtanen's moves. And the experienced Sousa, 34, was immediately left as the underdog in Ruusuvuuori's karate with a 5–0 lead. And even after that, Sousa, once a top-30 player in the world, did not get involved at any point.
“Otto played well, from the first point. It was nice to watch that and jump onto the field after that,” Ruusuvuori mused.
“Sousa was in the world's top 50 for a long time. He's lacking a bit at the moment (compared to his peak years), but is still dangerous. However, we were able to keep it on the back foot and get going, and couldn't hurt from there.”
National team captain Jarkko Nieminen described the evening at Turkuhalli as “rolling” in a Finnish way. And especially for Virtanen, almost “perfect”.
“Perhaps we didn't dare to expect this kind of complete dominance, we did hope for it. Otolla came close to a perfect game from start to finish. And the whole day went smoothly for us, Otto and Emil were clearly better. The Portuguese were pretty unarmed, they didn't have their best day, but it was our goodness too”, Nieminen was happy.
For doubles Finland will of course put its double star Harri Heliövaaran. The couple is originally named Patrik Niklas-Salminen, but it is possible that, for example, Ruusuvuori would play. He said he was ready for it.
Nieminen said that he was consulting on Heliövaaraa.
“He is an experienced player and sees a certain Flow and the condition of the players. He is listened to, and everything else is also weighed. We have options and we'll see what we think would be the strongest lineup.”
“Of course, in principle, Patrik and Harri have been named, and that is also a realistic option.”
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