Czech Republic beat Serbia 4-1 to reach Davis Cup semis

The Czech Republic beat Serbia 4-1 to reach the Davis Cup semi-finals for a second time in three years after winning both reverse singles on the clay court of Prague's O2 Arena on Sunday.

Tomas Berdych, the world number seven, sealed victory beating eighth-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (9/7) in three hours and 45 minutes as Serbia paid a heavy price for the absence of world number one Novak Djokovic.

Lukas Rosol, the world number 82, then stunned 27-ranked Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in an hour and 49 minutes in the dead rubber.

Berdych had to come back in the first two sets and then fought hard in the third to outperform Tipsarevic who took a 5-1 lead in the tie-break.

"It was a narrow escape in all three sets but that's tennis today," Berdych told the public Czech TV.

"You can't expect to win three easy sets against the eighth player of the world. I would definitely find a few things I could have done better but that doesn't matter now. What matters is the third point I've won."

Czech team captain Jaroslav Navratil praised the "high-quality tennis" both players had shown.

"In the end, the decisive factor was Tomas' courage. It's a great success, hats off to the whole team," he said.

The Czechs will travel to Argentina for the semi-finals in September as the South American team beat Croatia 4-1 in their quarter-final.

"Argentina playing at home will be hard to beat. But we're only playing in September, and we'll be looking forward to the game," said Navratil.

On Saturday, Berdych and Radek Stepanek beat Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) to give the Czechs a 2-1 lead, clinching their 10th victory of 11 Davis Cup doubles rubbers together.

On Friday, Berdych swept Troicki in straight sets while Stepanek lost a stormy epic five-setter to Tipsarevic that ended in controversy.

After Stepanek and Tipsarevic shook hands, the Serbian number one accused the Czech veteran of aiming an obscene gesture at him and calling him names as they walked off to the sidelines.

Bozoljac retaliated after the doubles on Saturday, refusing to shake Stepanek's hand and claiming he might get the same two-finger "sign of the horns" treatment as Tipsarevic the day before.

With the win, the Czechs have taken a revenge for the 2010 Davis Cup semi-finals, which Serbia won before going on to lift their first ever title.