But the Netherlands threw a wrench in Switzerland’s celebration plans on Saturday by taking the doubles rubber.
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“My idea was never to win it twice, the idea was always to win it once”, Federer told www.daviscup.com.
“The summer will be very long and packed with highlights”.
“I felt pretty good today, nearly the best I’ve felt all week”, Federer said.
In World Group playoffs to determine which countries stay in the 16-country elite group, the United States, Switzerland and Czech Republic were among those holding 2-1 leads going into Sunday’s reverse singles. Dutch pair Thiemo De Bakker and Matwe Middelkoop rallied from a set down to win 7-6 (7), 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 after Federer’s regular partner Stan Wawrinka scratched, citing fatigue.
“He moves so fast on the court — he’s like a ghost”, said Huta Galung of Federer.
Things started okay for De Bakker in set one.
“I lost my head”, admitted de Bakker.
In Brussels, Leonardo Mayer and Carlos Berlocq gave Argentina a 2-1 lead over Belgium in the other semifinal, beating Steve Darcis and Ruben Bemelmans in a four-hour match.
Belgium are bidding to reach the final for the first time since 1904 while their last semi-final run before this year was in 1999.
“It is a remarkable turnaround for a British team that have risen from being on the verge of relegation to Europe/Africa Group III in 2010 to being finalists in 2015”.
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At Glasgow, after Murray brushed aside Thanasi Kokkinakis with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 win, a surprise decision to pick the 300th-ranked Evans for the second match failed to deliver as Tomic came through for a 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 6-4 victory. The atmosphere was unbelievable.
