Janko Tipsarevic was happy to have play a part as defensive Davis Cup champions Serbia progress smoothly into the semi-finals on Sunday. The Serbians were 2-1 up on Sweden during the night and Tipsarevic gain the significant third point by winning the fourth rubber against Michael Ryderstedt 6-2 7-5 6-3.
The imposing win backed up Tipsarevic's defeat of Ervin Eleskovic on Friday after his opponent had to retire with a torn anterior cruciate tendon at the start of the second set.Serbia could even afford to leave out Wimbledon champion and new world number one Novak Djokovic for the singles due to a small knee wound - he played and lost the doubles rubber on Saturday - and Tipsarevic was satisfied the visitors had advanced with relative ease.
It feels really great. I know that Serbia was a huge favourite to win with Robin Soderling not here and Novak coming, but I'm happy to have helped my country once again get through to the semi-finals.
Ryderstedt, who made his Davis Cup debut in Friday's four-set defeat to Viktor Troicki, battled hard but was simply outclassed by the world number 29. The Swede said:It was a very tough weekend for me playing two company much higher ranked.
I fight hard, I did my best and I can learn a lot from this weekend. It gave me self-assurance and it gave me a lot of incentive to start ready harder because I want to compete with these guys all the time.Serbia will now play Argentina in a home semi-final in September and Tipsarevic feels the attendance of David Nalbandian could be key to the result.