Czechs win seven-hour record epic, Spain face exit

PARIS (AFP) –

Czech Tomas Berdych (R) and Tomas Rosol play against Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli during a Davis Cup World Group first round tennis match on February 2, 2013 in Geneva. Berdych and Rosol defeated Wawrinka and Chiudinelli 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 24-22 in the longest Davis Cup rubber of all time.

Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol beat Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli Saturday in the longest ever Davis Cup match, an exhausting clash which took 7 hours and one minute.

The 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 24-22 Geneva epic surpassed the previous record of 6 hours 22 minutes which John McEnroe needed to beat Mats Wilander 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6 in a tie between the United States and Sweden in 1982.

Chiudinelli double-faulted on match point in a fifth set which lasted 3 hours 35 minutes, after he and his partner had saved 12 match points.

The win gave the defending champion Czechs a 2-1 lead in the World Group clash ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles with the winners to play either Kazakhstan or Austria in the quarter-finals in April.

Wawrinka, the world 17, is due to face Berdych, the sixth-ranked player in the first of Sunday’s reverse singles.

“I have never experienced such a long tennis match. Victory tastes sweet but we still need a point,” said Berdych. “It was extremely long, but we have quite a time to recover.”

Wawrinka, who lost a five-hour, fourth round epic to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open last month, insisted he will be ready for Sunday’s duel.

“I’m tired physically and mentally, but I’ll be ready,” said Wawrinka, his country’s top player in the absence of Roger Federer.

In stark contrast, Serbia and France cruised into the quarter-finals.

Serbia, the 2010 winners, reached the last eight for the fourth successive season when Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic, playing his 18th Davis Cup season, defeated Steve Darcis and Ruben Bemelmans 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to secure a 3-0 win over Belgium.

Serbia will face either the United States or Brazil for a semi-final place.

The US, a record 32-time champions, were 2-0 ahead of Brazil in Florida overnight but doubles specialists Bob and Mike Bryan suffered a stunning loss in the doubles on Saturday.

Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares claimed a famous 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win to keep Brazil alive and condemn the American brothers to only their third defeat of their Davis Cup partnership.

In Rouen, Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau teamed up to move France into the quarter-finals as they powered past Israeli pairing Dudi Sela and Jonathan Erlich.

The French duo won 7-6 (7/3), 6-1, 6-0 in the doubles to cement an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the tie and give new captain Arnaud Clement a debut victory.

France will now head to Argentina, who beat Germany 3-0, for their quarter-final.

David Nalbandian and Horacio Zeballos clinched Argentina’s crucial point for an unassailable 3-0 lead by beating Christopher Kas and Tobias Kamke 6-1, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in Buenos Aries.

In Vancouver, five-time champions Spain were down 2-0 against Canada, a country who have never won a World Group clash.

Serbia’s Viktor Troicki (L) and Nenad Zimonjic react during their Davis Cup World Group first round tennis match against Belgian pair Steve Darcis and Ruben Bemelmans on February 2, 2013 in Charleroi. Troicki and Zimonjic won 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to secure a 3-0 win over Belgium.

Missing top players Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco, the champions in three of the last five years, and runners-up in 2012, were blown off court.

Canadian veteran Frank Dancevic, ranked 166th in the world, stormed to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Marcel Granollers, ranked 34th, to put the hosts up 2-0.

World number 15 Milos Raonic had opened the tie with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Albert Ramos.

Spain, who haven’t lost in the first round since 2006, now need Granollers and Marc Lopez to beat Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil in the doubles later Saturday to stay alive in the tie.

Italy led Croatia 2-1 in Turin after Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli beat Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (13/11) to edge closer to a last-eight tie against either Canada or Spain.