No “Miracle of Alabama” for Swiss

Switzerland's Federer-less Davis Cup team have been beaten 4-1 by the United States in Birmingham, Alabama.

Andy Roddick, ranked sixth in the world, swept past Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka (ranked 16th) in straight sets on Sunday to give the US an opening-round victory in the best-of-five series.

“The strategy was to attack [Roddick],” Wawrinka said. “When he gives some short ball, you need to come to the net to take care of the ball, to push him a lot. He was playing too good for me to do that.”

Roddick’s emphatic 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win was followed by James Blake finishing off Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 7-6 (6). Blake is ranked 13th, Chiudinelli 341st.

Roger Federer is out with back problems, meaning the US didn’t have to battle the world’s number two player. On July 8-10, the Americans will play Croatia, who beat Chile 3-0.