Czech Republic won the 100th Davis Cup final against Spain in Prague.
The Czech Republic lifted their first Davis Cup since gaining independence following a 1993 split with Slovakia. The former Czechoslovakia won the trophy in 1980. Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek have given the Czech Republic its first Davis Cup title in the country’s modern history, beating Spain, who had won the Davis Cup three times in the past five years, 3-2 in the final.
In Sunday’s first match, Spain’s David Ferrer, the world number five, needed just two hours and 25 minutes to see off sixth-ranked Berdych. The 37th-ranked Stepanek was the outsider against his 11th-ranked opponent Nicolas Almagro, but he stuck to his attacking game on the fast indoor carpet at the O2 Arena, winning 41 points at the net. There were jubilant scenes as Stepanek dropped to the court and his teammates Tomas Berdych, Lukas Rosol, Ivo Minar and captain Jaroslav Navratil jumped on him.
By winning the Davis Cup the Czechs also completed a rare double just two weeks after the women secured the Fed Cup title. No country has won both competitions in the same year since the United States in 1990. The Czech Republic became the first nation to simultaneously hold the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup.
