Title holders the Czech Republic established an iron grip on their Davis Cup quarter-final tie against a weakened Japan on Friday, with Radek Stepanek and Lukas Rosol battling for wins in front of a buzzing Tokyo crowd.
Despite missing world number five Tomas Berdych, the Czechs had expected to dominate a Japan side shorn of talisman Kei Nishikori through injury.
Despite a scare Stepanek beat Tatsuma Ito 6-7, 7-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the opening rubber, and Rosol toiled to overcome Nishikori`s replacement Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 as the visitors closed in on a semi-final clash with Germany or France in September.
"I`m very happy to be at 2-0," Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil told reporters. "They had nothing to lose and in the end of both matches we were a little bit lucky."
Japan`s hopes of toppling the two-time defending champions were severely jolted by Nishikori`s withdrawal and further complicated after Go Soeda came down with a fever on the eve of the tie.
Stepanek still had to draw on all of his experience, with the former world number eight saving a point to avoid going two sets down with a superb lunging volley before ending Ito`s resistance.
Ito, ranked 146th in the world to Stepanek`s 47, won their only previous encounter on clay in Germany two years ago but an upset stomach undid his strong start on the Tokyo hardcourts.
Stepanek opened the match with an ace, but the dogged Ito took the first set to a tiebreak, clinching it 7-5 with a sharp angled drop-volley. Stepanek finally snaffled the second set, also on a tiebreak by the same score, roaring in delight and eyeballing Ito across the net after the Japanese player had blasted a forehand wide.
With Ito suddenly looking vulnerable, the Czech jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third, with Ito calling for a medical timeout at the turnaround while clearly in some discomfort.
Stepanek swept through the set and broke for 6-5 in the fourth to complete victory in three hours, 53 minutes thanks to a wild Ito backhand, his 82nd unforced error of a match he had begun so brightly.
"It was a strange match," Stepanek told AFP, unconvinced of Ito`s illness. "He was hitting the ball amazingly but it`s difficult to keep that ratio of winners the whole match. It was weird, he doesn`t play for three games, then suddenly he`s running about like nothing happened.
"But you have to believe in yourself," added the 35-year-old, who has won the deciding rubber for the Czechs in the last two finals - against Spain and Serbia respectively. "There are days you`re not playing your best tennis that you have to find ways to win."
Ito said he had been taking medication since returning from a Challenger tournament in Guadalajara.
"I haven`t felt well since coming back from Mexico last week," he said. I took some tablets again in the third set. If I`d won that second set it would`ve been interesting."
Rosol blew a two-set lead against Daniel before finally taming an opponent ranked 150 places below him and playing a career first five-set match, a double-fault adding to the sense of anti-climax after a brave fightback. "I had no answer to Taro in the third and fourth sets," admitted the world number 40. "I felt OK physically and knew I had more experience and my chances would come but I was lucky."
AFP
First Published: Friday, April 4, 2014, 20:41
