Spain won the Davis Cup on Sunday with a decisive 5-0 victory over the Czech Republic with singles wins by Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer. Nadal won the first matchup with Tomas Berdych on Friday, and Ferrer won a 5-set victory over Radek Stepanek which upped Spain's Friday lead to 2-0.
The Czech Republic tried to rally after Friday's losses by 465th-ranked Dlouhy and 102nd-ranked Hajek by replacing them in the doubles match. Hajek's 1 for 1 on doubles and Dlouhy has yet to play a doubles match at the Davis Cup. They were replaced with Stepanek and Berdych who both came from singles losses on Friday. But the two are 5-0 in doubles, so captain Jaroslav Navratil hoped that record would see them victorious. This was the match they had to win to stay in the race for the Cup.
The last team to turn it around and win after being down 2 matches was Australia in 1939, which shows just how tough that deficit is to overcome. That 70-year record still stands, as Spain won the Cup after the doubles win on Saturday. Verdasco, coming off 3 losses in London a week ago pulled it off with Lopez, bringing in Spain's victory in the doubles match and the Cup.
Spain has won the Davis Cup 4 times in 9 years, but this victory marked the second in a row, something that hasn't happened since Sweden won the Cup 2 years in a row in 1998. Spain also matched another Swedish move, by successfully having the only 5-0 score since the Swedes managed it against the United States in 1997, the first year of their 2-year streak.
The victory was no surprise on Sunday at the Palau Sant Jordi, when Spain earned 3-0 in the doubles match on Saturday, making them unbeatable. After the doubles victory there was little suspense about the winner on Sunday, but there was suspense about whether or not Spain could shut out the Czech Republic. The wins by Spain on Sunday weren't sweeps, but close matches, with Nadal defeating Jan Hajek 6-3 6-4 and Ferrer defeating Lukas Dlouhy 6-4 6-02.
The second-ranked Nadal, who's won the French Open 4 times, came to the first match of the Davis Cup off 4 losses in a row, with 3 of those at the ATP World Finals just last week. But the Palau Sant Jordi's clay court is Nadal's favorite, and he said he hadn't been at 100% but was coming into the Cup tournament at 100%. Before the tournament he boasted an impressive 10-0 on clay in singles matches, and won the last 4 matchups with Berdych. Now he sits at 12-0.
About 16,000 fans showed up on Sunday to watch the final matches. Spain's next challenge comes in March when they go up against Switzerland, which might be headed up by Roger Federer. Federer won the ATP World Finals last weekend, and is the top ranked tennis player in the world.
Photo Credits: alekspression
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