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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Sunday, February 11 |
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| Sweden edges out Czech Republic 3-2 Reuters | |||
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HELSINGBORG, Sweden -- Thomas Johansson
beat Jiri Novak 7-6 (0), 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 in Sunday's decisive
second reverse singles to give Sweden a 3-2 Davis Cup victory against
the Czech Republic.
Earlier, Bohdan Ulihrach squared the tie by thrashing world
number five Magnus Norman in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
Ulihrach had beaten Johansson in Friday's opening singles.
"They had the better player but we had the better team,"
Swedish Davis Cup captain Carl-Axel Hageskog said.
"Our aim was to win one match per day and we did that," he
said.
Johansson took two hours 43 minutes to overcome Novak,
serving 24 aces and winning six of nine break points.
The Swede hit a backhand out on his first matchpoint but
made no mistake on the second, driving a powerful forehand out
of Novak's reach.
"It was great to play in front of the home crowd. Their
support helped me a lot," said Johansson, 31st in the latest ATP
rankings.
"I served very well, that helped me a lot," he said.
The Czech, who lost his five-set opening singles against
Norman on Friday and was also on the losing side in Saturday's
doubles, looked worn out.
"Thomas played an excellent game and Novak was obviously
very tired," Hageskog said.
Seven-time Davis Cup winner Sweden returned to the world
group this year after making an ignominious first round exit in
1999. They won their last two Davis Cup titles in 1997 and 1998.
Sweden will play the winners of the Russia-Slovakia match in
the quarterfinals.
Strong serve In Sunday's first singles rubber, Ulihrach, serving brilliantly, needed just 88 minutes to beat Norman. The Czech, 13th in the ATP Champions' race, hammered down 12 aces and was never threatened on the fast indoor court. He won six of 10 break points in the one-sided match. "I don't remember if I have ever played this well. This must be my best match ever," the Czech said. "My serve and everything worked very well," said Ulihrach, who tends to prefer slower clay courts and dislikes fast indoor surfaces. Norman did not have a single break point and hit the ball into the net on Ulihrach's first match point. "He played a very good game. I never got any chance on his serve. I tried different things but he had answers to everything," Norman said. "I have never been outplayed like this before." | |
ALSO SEE Australia beats Ecuador in first round of Davis Cup France routs Belgium 5-0 Germany takes both singles matches to advance Dutch complete 4-1 victory against sorry Spain Davis Cup results Swedes win doubles to lead Czechs 2-1 Switzerland swamps United States out of Davis Cup | |
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