Prague, Czech Republic (Sports Network) - Tomas Berdych secured the Czech
Republic a spot in the Davis Cup semifinals with a straight-sets victory over
Serbian Janko Tipsarevic Sunday.
Berdych won in three tiebreakers, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (9-7), and that
gave the Czechs an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five tie.
The result put the Czechs into the semifinals against Argentina in September.
Argentina clinched a quarterfinal win over Croatia on Sunday.
Berdych's match, which lasted 3-hours, 45-minutes, saw him fire 12 aces. He
also overcame 62 unforced errors and placed the Czechs in their third Davis
Cup semifinal in four years.
Tipsarevic had a chance to close out the first and second sets on his serve
prior to the tiebreakers, but failed. That gave Berdych an opening to rally on
the indoor red clay court at the O2 Arena.
On Friday, Berdych ripped through Viktor Troicki in a 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 rout.
Tipsarevic squared the series on Friday with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 9-7 triumph
over Radek Stepanek.
Saturday, Berdych and Stepanek responded with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) triumph
over the Serbian team of Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac.
Serbia, which beat the Czechs in the semifinals two years ago en route to its
only Davis Cup crown, played this weekend without world No. 1 Novak
Djokovic, who also skipped the opening-round series against Sweden in
February.
The Sports Network