Stepanek, Czechs capture the 100th Davis Cup in Prague
Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com
The Czech Republic beat the defending champs Spain 3-2 at home in rowdy Prague to capture the 100th Davis Cup and their first Davis Cup title as an independent nation. They won in 1980 as part of Czechoslovakia and were led by Ivan Lendl at the time.
Captain Jaroslav Navratil relied on twin ligers Tomas Berdych and the tie clinching Radek Stepanek the whole way. Stepanek suffered an opening rubber loss to David Ferrer, but Berdych bounced to beat Nicolas Almagro in 5 and then Berdych and Stepanek combined to beat Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers in the doubles rubber. Ferrer won the 4thrubber over Berdych, giving him a perfect 2-0 record in the tie, but it was not enough as veteran player Radek Stepanek became the hero, closing out Nicolas Almagro in 4 sets with near perfect play. Steps was hitting target shots and rocket serves.
In addition to dethroning the Spanish Armada for the year, the Czech Republic got a perfect triple this year in winning the Hopman and Fed cups.
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