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Berdych helps Czech Republic overcome Spain

Tomas Berdych looked unbreakable against Nicolas Almagro © Getty Images

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Tomas Berdych's successful year continued as he helped to give the Czech Republic an insurmountable 2-0 advantage against Spain in the Red Group of the ARAG ATP World Team Championship.

World No. 17 Berdych, who has reached five quarter-finals this year, overcame the challenge of Nicolas Almagro 6-7(4) 6-4 6-3. The Czech player did not lose his serve during a match that spanned two hours and ten minutes in Dusseldorf.

Elsewhere in the Red Group, John Isner and Sam Querrey won the decisive doubles for the United States after play had resumed with the tie level at 1-1. The American duo conquered Australian pairing Carsten Ball and Paul Hanley 5-7 6-4 10-8 in 76 minutes.

France claimed the opening tie of the Blue Group 2-1 after triumphing in the decisive doubles rubber. Jeremy Chardy and Micolas Mahut defeated the German team of Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 3-6 10-5 in a rain-interrupted match.

"It was a setback today to lose such a close match," Kohlschreiber said. "I think we were quite close in the second set. They played well, I have to say. They served well and put us under a lot of pressure."

Argentina joined France in winning their opening Blue match after Juan Monaco bounced back from a slow start to edge past Serbia's Viktor Troicki 1-6 6-3 7-6(3). "It was a hard match," Monaco, whose win gave his country an unassailable 2-0 lead, said.

"In the beginning, I started a little bit unfocused. With time I was playing a bit better, feeling more aggressive on the baseline. I think I was lucky then in the tie-break of the final set he made some easy faults. Then I took that advantage and finished the match well I think."

At the Open de Nice, Oliver Rochus set up a second-round showdown against top seed Robin Soderling by crushing Adrian Mannarino 6-3 6-1. Arnaud Clement, who gave Roger Federer a scare in the first set of their clash at the Estoril Open, saw his challenge extinguished by Simon Gruel.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Lukasz Kubot, Mario Chiudinelli and Leonardo Mayer.

In other news, David Nalbandian and Gilles Simon have pulled out of the French Open due to injury.

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