Some thoughts

United States vs. Great Britain

• Murray came out very sharp. He noted that he only had one break point which lost him the third set. He said it's difficult to keep that high a level throughout a match, but otherwise he felt he played really well. Young has to feel good about taking a set considering last year he didn't get a set.
• Ward shows that he keeps his cool. He was apparently training with Murray this last offseason in Miami, and you can see some of Murray's hitting patterns when Ward plays. Ward doesn't move as well as Murray (of course) though both are he same height. Ward used the angle on both his backhand and forehand well.
• With a 2-0 lead, Great Britain again goes into the rest of the tie with a huge lead. Murray said playing 3 days in a row can be draining though he wasn't too tired from his match. But I expect him to rest, and take his chances in the reverse singles. Isner will have more to recover than Murray.

Australia vs. Czech Republic

• Instead of being tied 1-1, the Aussies find themselves up 2-0, courtesy of an improbably comeback from Kokkinakis. Rosol broke to lead 3-2 in the fifth set, but was immediately broken, then broken again, to lose the next 4 games and the match.
• Tomic's unusual playing style seemed to confuse Vesely as Tomic won this match fairly handily.
• Neither Berdych nor Stepanek played. Stepanek, I think, had been injured (but was in attendance) and Berdych chose not to play.

Germany vs. France

• Simon has not had the greatest Davis Cup record, but his performance lately (plus a hurt Tsonga, etc) gave him a spot. The German captain chose to go with Struff over the higher ranked, but more veteran, Benjamin Becker. Struff played aggressive and was up 2 sets to 1, but Simon kept fighting and ultimately won in 5 long sets.
• Monfils won the opening set, but was down early in the second. He came back to win that set. Monfils did some trick shots, but still won the match in straights.
• This was probably the expected result given how strong France generally is, but Germany did have its chances, esp in that first match.

Kazakhstan vs. Italy

• I thought Italy might be favored. Bolelli has played somewhat well recently, but instead, Kukuskin won in straight sets. It might be that the Italians prefer clay (as a group) and this was held indoors in Kazakhstan.
• Seppi, who has played reasonably well since beating Federer at the Australian Open, beat Golubev in four sets.
  
• Kazakhstan tends to do better than expected given the rankings of its players.

Serbia vs. Croatia

• With Djokovic playing, and with Cilic not playing (nor Karlovic), Serbia is favored. Djokovic did his part with a straight set win over Mate Delic (who?).
• Coric, who reached the semis of an ATP tournament recently, looked like he might pull a win over Troicki with a 2 set to none lead, but couldn't get the upset as Troicki took the next 3 sets comfortably.
  
• It's been forever since Tipsarevic played. More than a year?

Belgium vs. Switzerland

• When you see ties like Germany vs. France, it makes you wonder why there are ties like Belgium vs. Switzerland. This would normally favor the Swiss, but without Federer non Wawrinka, the Swiss have a lot more work to do.
• Normally, the Belgians should be able to play Goffin and that would give them a reasonable edge, but I guess he's injured? Laaksonen pulled a 5-set win over Bemelmans after being down 2 sets to lover.
• Steve Darcis (remember him?) had a much easier time winning over Michael Lammer. Paul Annacone noted that Lammer is a solid player with no real weapons and that wasn't enough against an aggressive player like Darcis.
• The Swiss should be happy that they are 1-all given the lack of their two best players.

Argentina vs. Brazil

• Given del Potro's injuries, and probably some disagreement with the Argentine tennis federation, Argentina's team is not super strong, featuring Berlocq and Mayer. The Brazilians play Souza and Bellucci.
• It's a pain keeping Souza, the Brazilian, and Souza, the Portuguese distinct, esp. since I've only seen Souza, the Portuguese play. Berlocq was up 2 sets to love, but Souza came back to win in 5 sets.
• Bellucci seems much worse than he was a few years ago. Not sure what happened. I'm guessing injury. He loses in 4 sets to Leonardo Mayer (speaking of which, whatever happened to Florian Mayer?).

Canada vs. Japan

• Last tie to be played today. Raonic had an easy win over Ito. There's not a good number 2 for Japan to go to. There's Ito and there's Soeda. Nishioka is up-and-coming, so maybe they could have tried him out, but maybe there's some seniority thing going on.
• Nishikori is playing Pospisil who has seen his rank slip without a good ATP result in the past year. Nishikori took the first two sets, and is expected to win. This tie likely hinges on whether Nishikori can beat Raonic. If he can, Japan has an outside shot to pull an upset.