By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, March 5, 2016
Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner to give the Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over host Germany.
Photo credit: Paul Zimmer/Davis Cup
An energized Czech tandem made two breaks too tough for Germany to overcome.
Reuniting on Hannover's hard court today, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek solidifed their status as one of the best Davis Cup doubles teams of this era.
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The Czech pair seized the critical doubles point and a 2-1 lead over Germany defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner, 7-6 (7), 7-5, 6-4.
Berdych and Stepanek, who raised their Davis Cup doubles record to 16-2, were the leaders of the Czech team that won successive Davis Cup championships in 2012 and 2013.
Joining forces for the first time in 18 months, the most successful Davis Cup doubles team in Czech history grinded through a demanding 73-minute opening set devoid of a service break. They broke Petzschner's serve twice, one in the second set and once in the third, to wrap up the win denying all five break points they faced.
"Most importantly, we made a point for our team which is the most important thing and why we came on the court today," Stepanek told Davis Cup.com. "It's been a tough battle, a very tough first set. We knew the German team played a very high standard in the first set. From then on, we took the momentum and we were the better team throughout the match."
It was a milestone victory for Berdych, who registered his 50th career win in the team competition, which puts him 10 wins short of Jan Kodes' all-time Czech Davis Cup record. Kodes posted a 60-34 record.
"I really go one-by-one," Berdych told Davis Cup.com. "So I'm not really looking that far ahead (to the record). There are still a lot of matches to win... I'm just going to go one-by-one and see what happens."
The seventh-ranked Berdych will try to clinch the Czech Republic's quarterfinal return when he plays Kohlschreiber in tomorrow's opening reverse singles. Berdych has won eight of nine meetings with Kohlschreiber.
Should the Czech Republic advance to the July 15-17th quarterfinals it could host France, which holds a 2-0 lead over a depleted Canadian squad in Guadeloupe.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet will try to clinch France's return to the quarterfinals. Gasquet and Tsonga were the last team to defeat Berdych and Stepanek in Davis Cup, posting a four-set victory in France's 4-1 triumph over the Czechs in the 2014 semifinals.
Croatia 2, Belgium 1
Host Belgium, the 2015 Davis Cup runner-up to Great Britain, is reeling now. Veteran Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor took command of the net dismantling Belgian No. 1 David Goffin and Ruben Bemelmans, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-1, in one hour, 45 minutes to put Croatia on the brink of a quarterfinal return. The Croatian pair did not drop serve in the match.
Goffin, who was pushed to five sets before prevailing over Borna Coric in Friday's singles, will play for the third day in a row when he faces 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic for the first time tomorrow. The winner of this tie will play either the United States or Australia in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.