Tomas Berdych put the Czech Republic 2-0 up in their Davis Cup semi-final with Argentina in Prague yesterday, moving the defending champions one win away from their third final in five years.
The world number five overcame a tough challenge from Leonardo Mayer, winning 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-4 at the O2 Arena.
Earlier, US Open doubles champion Radek Stepanek cruised to a 7-6(3) 6-3 6-2 win over Juan Monaco, Argentina’s top player in the absence of world number seven Juan Martin Del Potro.
Mayer, the lowest ranked on both teams at 93 in the world and making his first Davis Cup appearance since 2010, matched Berdych’s power game early on and levelled the match at one set apiece.
But after the 26-year-old Argentine scored the first point of the third set, Berdych reeled off the next three games, breaking Mayer in the second with a backhand and sending down a pair of aces in the third to put him in a comfortable position.
The Czech number one fended off a late challenge from the Argentine and closed out the match when Mayer sent a forehand wide.
“I was kind of fighting with myself with the rhythm of a bit faster court from the beginning in those first two sets,” Berdych told reporters.
“Then I just got the rhythm back and started to serve on the standard that I’m used to and getting some easy points, and that was actually the key to the game...
“We have a 2-0 lead after Friday and that is what we wanted or maybe better. The most important thing is now to get ready for tomorrow,” he added.
Berdych and Stepanek will likely team up for today’s doubles, hoping to finish the job and secure a spot in the final where they will face either Serbia or Canada.
The pair helped the Czechs lift the Cup in 2012 for the first time since Czechoslovakia won in 1980.
They played in every live rubber in that title campaign, but are featuring together in the Davis Cup for the first time in 2013.
Djokovic wins
In the other semi-final, Serbia and Canada are tied on 1-1 after the opening singles matches.
Roared on by a partisan home crowd in the Belgrade Arena, world number one Novak Djokovic put the Serbs ahead after cruising past Vasek Pospisil 6-2 6-0 6-4 in one hour and 44 minutes.
The 26-year old looked a little weary in the first three games after a long-haul flight from New York, but it was one-way traffic once he found his feet on the red clay surface.
It was much tighter in the other match as Canada’s Milos Raonic beat Janko Tipsarevic 5-7 6-3 3-6 6-3 9-8 to level the tie.