Davis Cup: Czech Republic take 2-1 lead against Serbia

The Czech Republic took a 2-1 lead over Serbia in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Saturday after winning the doubles in straight sets.

Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych breezed past Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) in two hours and 23 minutes on the clay court of Prague's O2 Arena.

Stepanek and Berdych won the 10th of their eleven Davis Cup doubles rubbers together, dominating the first two sets and coming back from 0-3 down in the third set.

"We were a better team from the start," said Stepanek, who has won two doubles titles with India's Leander Paes this year - at the Australian Open and last week's Miami Masters.

"We knew they would serve well, and we tried to return well and we managed to do that," he told the public Czech TV.

On Friday, Berdych swept past Serbia's number two Viktor Troicki in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, while Stepanek lost a stormy epic five-setter to Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-9.

After Stepanek and Tipsarevic shook hands following Friday's tie, 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.

Stepanek declined to comment on the incident for Czech TV on Saturday.

He only said it was "tough to bear when you lose a marathon match like that. I didn't sleep much, so I'm looking forward to going to bed."

On Sunday, Berdych, the world number seven, will take on eighth-ranked Tipsarevic while Stepanek, the world 24, meets 27th-ranked Troicki.

The teams last clashed in the 2010 Davis Cup semi-finals, which Serbia won before going on to lift their first title ever.

The winners will meet either Argentina or Croatia in September's semi-finals.