TENNIS in DEPTH.

Switzerland is missing a huge opportunity to eliminate the defending Davis Cup champioms from the 2010 competition. Injuries have sidelined three of Spain’s top players, and even though they have considerable depth to pick from, the Swiss team with Federer would be the odds on favourite. But Roger has said he will not be available!

Nicolas Almagro will replace the injured Juan Carlos Ferrero for Spain’s Davis Cup tie against Switzerland on March 5-7.

Ferrero hurt his knee during the final of the Mexico Open in Acapulco, which he lost to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

Amagro was informed he was in the squad by Spanish team captain Albert Costa on Sunday, the Spanish tennis federation said.

A knee injury also means Rafael Nadal is ruled out of the best-of-five series, as is Switzerland’s Roger Federer who had announced he would not take part in the Davis Cup.

Almagro, Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers will represent Spain at the 11,000-capacity bullring in the northern city of Logrono.

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Rafael Nadal showed all his renowned fighting qualities(and he was lucky) to beat Nicolas Almagro in an epic contest at the Paris Masters on Wednesday. Nadal is far from the player he was at this time last year. Except for the name he could easily be mistaken for any of a number of top 20 players. He has lost his zip, his power, his movement and his concentration. Unless he undergoes a miraculous metamorphis in the very near future it is doubtful whether he will ever win another Grand Slam event. Just compare the physical difference in the two pictures….this is not the same Rafa we came to admire!

Maybe he’s like Sampson? When his hair was cut he lost all his strength!

The Australian Open champion saved five match points in the second set en route to a 3-6 7-6 (7/2) 7-5 victory in three hours and 14 minutes.

Nadal refused to bend towards the end of the second set – saving the last three match points in a row at 5-6 0-40 – before levelling the match in the ensuing tie-break.

Still, it seemed Almagro was set for victory when he forged a 5-3 lead in the decider and served for a place in the last 16.

However, with cramp taking hold of his legs, Almagro could not finish off Nadal and the former Wimbledon champ reeled off the last four games to claim a hard-fought triumph.

Robredo, seeded 14, saw off Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4.

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Rafael Nadal encountered as much trouble from his own body as his opponent in a third-round victory at the U.S. Open.

The third-seeded Nadal, who missed Wimbledon with sore knees, needed a 10-minute injury break for a trainer to work on his abdominals early in the third set of his 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 32 Nicolas Almagro on Sunday.

While Nadal laid on the ground to receive treatment, Almagro was laying down to get work done on his back.

The Spaniards popped back up and Nadal finished the work, staying in the hunt to complete his career Grand Slam, though it has yet to be seen what kind of toll this match took on him.

“I feel it a little bit now, but I’ll try my best to recover for the next match,” said Nadal, who has insisted all week that he’s been feeling fine. “I’m here to work hard and try my best all the time.”

Earlier, No. 2 Serena Williams routed No. 22 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0, winning the final 10 games after starting the first set 2-2.

Williams has reached the quarterfinals at 11 of the past 12 major tournaments and won the title at three of the past four.

She is still seeking her first big test at Flushing Meadows.

“I just want to keep this level and just stay focused,” Williams said.

In other early action Sunday, 11th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez defeated 17th-seeded Tomas Berdych, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4, and No. 9 Gilles Simon of France retired because of a knee injury while trailing No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 1-0.

“Sometimes, I don’t know why, I just feel a big pain,” said Simon, who added that he’s had problems with the knee since the French Open in May.

In the other early women’s match, No. 18 Li Na of China ousted No. 26 Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6-2, 6-3.

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No. 4 seed Nicolas Almagro defended his Abierto Mexicano Telcel title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 2 seed Gael Monfils in the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Acapulco on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old Spaniard is the first player to capture back-to-back tournament titles since Thomas Muster won four straight from 1993-96 in Mexico City. The tournament moved to Acapulco in 2001.

Almagro earned a career-high $300,000 and collected 500 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points with his fifth ATP World Tour clay court title in seventh final. It is the second time Almagro has defended a title. He won in Valencia in 2006-07.

Monfils, who was the first Frenchman to reach the final in tournament history (since 1993), fell to 1-6 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals. Monfils came into the tournament a career-high No. 10 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings.

Almagro evened the career meetings at 2-2 against Monfils with his second clay court victory (‘06 Barcelona). The Frenchman won the previous two matches on hard courts at the Beijing Olympics last summer and at the Australian Open last month.

“I was very eager to win tonight and did what I needed to do to luckily arrive at this victory,” said Almagro. “I made few errors and I’m very satisfied with the match and the week. I think the key to the match was my serve. My mind has also been strong this week and helped me overcome my issues with my shoulder which I’ve been battling these past few weeks. This has helped me gain the self confidence I needed after six tough months of injury last year.”

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