The recipe for beating Spain in Davis Cup isn't easy and has been often thwarted by lower ranked Spanish players: 1) Make them play away Spain and not on clay (they simply don't lose at home), 2) Hope Nadal is injured. But these things also happened in the '08 final (ARG) and '11 quarters (USA) and the often underrated Ferrer or Verdsaco or F.Lopez or some combination of those players came through. Spain had lost just once ('10 quarters at FRA - same recipe) in the competition since '07 but the Czechs came through thanks to a Stepanek victory over Almagro in a live 5th rubber. We'll never if F.Lopez would have been a better pick than Almagro, but we do know that the Spanish reign is over and the Czech hold both the Davis Cup and Fed Cups for the time being.
David Ferrer (ESP) def. Radek Stepanek (CZE) 6-3 6-4 6-4
Tomas Berdych (CZE) def. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-7 6-3
Berdych/Stepanek (CZE) def. Granollers/M.Lopez (ESP) 3-6 7-5 7-5 6-3
David Ferrer (ESP) def. Tomas Berdych (CZE) 6-2 6-3 7-5
Radek Stepanek (CZE) def. Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 6-4 7-6 3-6 6-3
Berdych and Stepanek each won 2 points and it was the doubles rubber than was critical. I thought Spain might have a chance to steal that but Czechs emerged victorious after a fairly close contest, breaking serve in the 12th game of both the 2nd and 3rd sets. Ferrer is underrated on hard courts and came through his two rubbers without dropping a set, but Almagro couldn't get the necessary 3rd point and showed he really is just a clay court specialist, unlike the acting Spanish no. 1.
And so, because of the Davis Cup format which pits the countries' no. 2s together in the final rubber, another hero is born: Radek Stepanek, who like most recently Viktor Troicki but many others before him, has a trophy that stands far and away above any individual accomplishments. The Czechs win their first Davis Cup as an indepenedent nation and their 2nd counting the '80 Czechoslovak win with Ivan Lendl.
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