OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — Tomas Berdych teamed up with Lukas Dlouhy to win the doubles on Saturday and give the Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over Kazakhstan in the first round of the Davis Cup.
Berdych and Dlouhy defeated Evgeny Korolev and Yuriy Schukin 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on an indoor hard court at CEZ Arena for a victory that puts them one win away from the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
"It was a tough match," Berdych said. "I didn't know much (about Kazakhstan). We had to fight for every single point."
The No. 7-ranked Berdych, who improved his Davis Cup doubles record to 11-1, can clinch the best-of-five series in Sunday's first reverse singles against Andrey Golubev.
"I'm glad we won in straight sets," Berdych said.
If Berdych loses, the series will be decided in the final match between Czech Jan Hajek and Mikhail Kukushkin.
The Czechs broke Korolev — who was making his Davis Cup debut — in the opening game of the match before Berdych served out the first set with an ace.
Korolev dropped his serve again in the seventh game of the second set and the Czechs converted their first set point when he hit a backhand into the net.
In the final set, the Kazakh pair broke Dlouhy in the 12th game to force the tiebreaker. The Czechs jumped to a 6-1 lead before Berdych converted the fourth match point with a service winner.
In Friday's opening singles, Golubev beat Hajek 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to give Kazakhstan a 1-0 lead before Berdych defeated Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3.
The winner will face Argentina in July's quarterfinals.
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