The Czech Republic is one match away from winning its second straight Davis Cup after defeating Serbia in straight sets in their doubles match on Saturday. Czech pair Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek swept Serbian duo Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to improve their career Davis Cup doubles record to 14-1.
Berdych and Stepanek controlled the match from the very beginning, breaking Zimonjic's serve in the first game of each of the first two sets. The Serbs managed to take the third set to a tiebreak, but failed to hold their serve on 3-2 or 3-4; Stepanek eventually delivered an ace on match point to end the tiebreak 7-4.
Serbia is now down 2-1 in the finals, but they have scored similar comeback victories before. They were behind 2-1 against France in the 2010 finals, but overcame the deficit to win the title that year; more recently, they erased a 2-1 disadvantage against Canada in this year's semifinals.
The finals continue on Sunday with two reverse singles matches. The first of those will feature the marquee matchup of Serbia's Novak Djokovic (ATP No. 2) against Czech star Berdych (No. 7). Djokovic is favored in the matchup, given that he is 14-2 in his career against Berdych and is on a personal 23-match winning streak. Djokovic defeated Stepanek in straight sets in the first match of this year's Cup on Friday.
The second reverse singles match will feature Stepanek for the Czechs, but it is unclear who will play for Serbia given that semifinal star Janko Tipsarevic is out with an injured heel. The most likely scenario is that Dusan Lajovic, who is playing in his first Davis Cup and lost to Berdych on Friday, will get the call.
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