World No. 5 David Ferrer improved to 21-4 in singles rubbers for Spain after he defeated American John Isner, the World No.12, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in three hours in the first reverse singles rubber. Ferrer broke the Isner serve 6 times and survived Isner’s 16 aces and 51 winners.

“I’m very happy and this is a dream for me,” said Ferrer. “Another Davis Cup final. We were here in Gijon at home, I won the last match and I won over John Isner who is a very, very good player.” Isner expressed his disappointment, “It is disappointing; the Spanish team in my opinion is just too good. They won the important points and it is a bit discouraging for me. I wanted to contribute in the ways that I did in the first two ties and I wasn’t able to do it. That is a credit to Nicolas Almagro and Ferrer, they were both better than me.”

Spain’s Davis Cup captain Alex Corretja was full of praise for Ferrer and said, “He’s a guy who never gives up, he’s a gladiator and he knows the way he needs to play on clay, the way he needs to move and hit the ball. On clay, it’s very difficult to beat him. Of course, on hard courts, indoors too, but here especially because he’s very strong.”

“I think it was a great battle between two of the best teams in the world,” said Jim Courier, the US Davis Cup team captain. “Spain is the high watermark in Davis Cup in the last 15 years and we knew it was going to be a very tricky tie for us and we were close. All of us who live in tennis know that there are always a few points that make big differences and the Spaniards found a way to win some key points in the three matches that they won.”