(MENAFN- Kora) Up against the might of roger federer and stanislas wawrinka in geneva the kazakhs managed to split the opening singles rubbers on friday with andrey golubev stunning the australian open champion in four sets
And golubev is shaping to be the hero for kazakhstan as he and aleksandr nedovyesov combined to beat federer and wawrinka in saturday's doubles in four sets.
Captain doskarayev said he was elated with their lead heading into sunday's reverse singles which will pit wawrinka against mikhail kukushkin and federer against golubev if required.
"it's a great feeling. it's like a dream i must say because we are playing against the swiss in switzerland" doskarayev said.
"i told the guys before the match miracles may happen but you have to believe in miracles and today we had to play fantastic.
"we had to play aggressive we had to play great but of course we needed to expect mistakes from the swiss team."
Federer was in awe of golubev's composure with the world number 64 - not for the first time - showing his guile on the davis cup stage.
In 2011 golubev beat tomas berdych on away soil in ostrava to help the kazakhs to a famous victory.
The swiss 17-time major winner said golubev had been instrumental so far.
"he has been the man of the match in the singles and doubles he's played great" federer said.
"he's been mentally really calm confident and serene. i've been very impressed by him. he made the difference in the doubles."
But federer was not about to hit the panic button as he felt the swiss were still favourites to advance to the semi-finals.
"i'm not overly worried about what happened the last couple of days" he said.
"we knew the kazakhs have been playing well in davis cup the last few years now. so it's for us now to shine and prove (ourselves).
"we are good players and we are the favourites still for each singles reverse match but we have no more margin for error so we are aware of that and who knows that's maybe going to make us play even better so i'm really excited about tomorrow."
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