• Davis Cup

Berdych & Rosol win seven-hour Davis Cup epic

Viktor Troicki hits a smash as Nenad Zimonjic closes in © Getty Images

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Defending champions Czech Republic kept their hopes of a repeat win alive, as Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol claimed an epic win over Switzerland in the doubles to move them 2-1 ahead.

Davis Cup often throws up amazing feats, but this doubles rubber will go down in history as Berdych and Rosol defeated Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-7(3) 24-22 in a match that lasted over seven hours.

The standard was high throughout and it appeared from an early stage as if it would go five sets. But no-one in Geneva could have predicted the drama that was to unfold over seven amazing hours. A partisan Swiss crowd got behind their players in the final set and they staved off 12 match points but the brilliant serving of Berdych and Rosol enabled them to stay in front and as the match ticked into an eighth hour, Chiudinelli double faulted.

Wawrinka will face Berdych in the first of Sunday's singles, ahead of the potential decider between Rosol and Henri Laaksonen.

Berdych said: "I have never played tennis that long. I like it because I now have a new experience but we still need one more point, so let's go again Sunday."

Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic beat Ruben Bemelmans and Steve Darcis to hand Serbia an unassailable 3-0 lead over Belgium and with it a place in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup.

With world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Troicki getting the job done in their singles matches on Friday, the latter teamed up with Zimonjic to wrap up a 6-4 6-4 5-7 6-4 success.

Serbia will now progress to play the winners of the USA versus Brazil clash.

Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra saw France into the quarter-finals, as their 7-6(3) 6-1 6-0 win over Jonathan Erlich and Dudi Sela of Israel put them into a 3-0 lead.

Argentina wrapped up victory over Germany, with David Nalbandian and Horacio Zeballos proving too good for Tobias Kamke and Christopher Kas.

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