Davis Cup: Czech tennis team trails US 1-2 after dramatic doubles clash

In the knockout tie for a place in the Davis Cup quarterfinals, being played at Prague's O2 arena, the Czech team trails the United States 1-2 after three matches. The deciding blow came in the doubles rubber, where the Czech pair squandered no fewer than four match points.

Adam Pavlásek and Patrik Rikl faced Americans Christian Harrison and Austin Krajicek and fell in an exhausting battle 5-7, 6-3, 6-7, with the deciding-set tie-break going the Americans' way 8-10. The match lasted 2 hours 47 minutes.

How the dramatic match unfolded

Pavlásek and Rikl, who only began playing together in April this year, took the first set in a tense finish: at 4-4 they failed to convert a 30-0 lead, but in the eleventh game they created three break points and converted the second, then held serve to close out the set.

The Czech pair made a poor start to the second set, immediately dropping their own serve and falling behind 0-3 — a deficit they were unable to overturn. In the decisive third set, Pavlásek and Rikl again found themselves under pressure, trailing 0-40 on serve in the very first game before winning five straight points to hold.

The finish was gripping: at 4-4 the Czechs fended off two break points, but failed to convert their first match point in the following game. Another chance to close out the match came at 6-5 — and again it slipped away.

What the tie-break decided

The fate of the set came down to the tie-break. Pavlásek and Rikl clawed back a mini-break deficit of 1-3 and, at 5-6, saved the Americans' first match point. But the Czech pair then let slip two more chances to seal the match in their favour — at 7-6 and 8-7 — before ultimately losing the tie-break 8-10, and with it the entire match.

What's next

Now captain Tomáš Berdych's team must fight back in the singles matches. In the first, Jakub Menšík will face this year's US Open finalist and world No. 4 Ben Shelton. If the score remains level after that match, Jiří Lehečka will take the court against Learner Tien.

The winner of the Prague qualifying tie will advance to the eight-team finals, to be held from 24 to 29 November in Bologna — just as last year. Notably, the Czech team has already come back from a 1-2 deficit against the United States at this same stage of the competition before — last year, in Delray Beach.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz