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February 4, 2013

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Berdych powers Czechs into last 8

TOMAS Berdych needed only three hours to beat Stanislas Wawrinka this time, and lift the Czech Republic to a 3-1 victory over Switzerland in the Davis Cup yesterday.

Back on court after both played in an epic 7 hours, 1 minute doubles match on Saturday, Czech No. 1 Berdych beat Swiss team leader Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) in the first of the reverse singles in Geneva.

Yesterday's match took three hours, 15 minutes - lasting less than half the time of the longest match in Davis Cup history.

The defending champions Czechs have a home quarterfinal against Kazakhstan in April. The Kazakhs beat Austria 3-1 yesterday.

Berdych and Lukas Rosol, formerly best known as the man who stunned Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year, won a record-breaking doubles match against the Swiss duo Marco Chiudinelli and Wawrinka 24-22 in the final set.

The Czechs needed 13 match points before the Swiss finally cracked but for France and Serbia things were far more straightforward as they took unassailable 3-0 leads in their matches against Israel and Belgium, respectively.

France, bidding for a 10th Davis Cup title, will face Argentina in the quarterfinals after the South Americans clinched victory with a day to spare against Germany.

David Nalbandian and Horacio Zeballos delighted the Buenos Aires crowd with a 6-1, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory against Christopher Kas and Tobias Kamke.

Kamke stood in for Philipp Kohlschreiber, who retired in the fifth set of Friday's opening singles with a pulled hamstring against Carlos Berlocq.

Top seed Spain, missing top-15 players Nadal, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro and world No. 24 Fernando Verdasco, gave itself a chance of advancing after Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez produced a gritty five-set win in Vancouver.

Trailing 0-2 after dropping both singles matches against Canada on Friday, the Spanish duo overcame Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 to stay alive.

The Spaniards, however, face a tough task in the reverse singles with Canada's world No. 15 Milos Raonic to play Granollers in the first match.


 

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