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Defending champions Serbia slip to second defeat

Tomas Berdych sealed the Czech Republic's place in the semi-finals of the ARAG ATP World Team Championship by beating Australia's Carsten Ball © Getty Images

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2009 ARAG ATP World Team Championship winners Serbia saw their chances of retaining their title wiped away as they slipped to their second straight defeat against France.

With the two country's Red Group fixture deadlocked at 1-1, Serbia began the day knowing they had to win the remaining doubles match to stay in with a chance of defending their crown. That chance looked alive when Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic, who helped Serbia lift the trophy last year, broke Jeremy Chardy and Nicolas Mahut twice in the opening set. The French pair replied each time though and, after winning the first set on a tiebreak, eased to a 7-6(4) 6-2 win.

Hosts Germany also saw their hopes of claiming the title disappear after Argentina overturned an overnight deficit to seal a 2-1 win. Eduardo Schwank levelled the scores with a 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3 win over Andreas Beck. In the all deciding final rubber, Juan Monaco and Horacio Zeballos combined to seal the Germans' fate by overcoming Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas 6-2 6-3.

Lleyton Hewitt was forced to watch on from the sidelines after being struck down with an upset stomach as Tomas Berdych beat Carsten Ball 6-3 7-6(4) to put the Czech Republic into an unassailable 2-0 lead. Ball and Peter Luczak did restore some pride with a brave 6-3 5-7 10-6 win over Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy in the doubles.

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan sealed the United States' second win of the event in the final doubles match of their Blue Group encounter with Spain. The experienced pair overcame Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Marc Lopez 6-3 7-5 to seal a 2-1 win.

At the Open de Nice, No. 1 seed Roger Soderling slipped to a surprise 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat against Olivier Rochus. Soderling took the first set and served 15 aces in the whole match but was left stunned as his Belgian opponent dissected his serve to book his place in the third round with a series of attacking winners.

Fernando Verdasco had no such problems as he broke France's Florent Serra twice in each set to seal a 6-2 6-2 win. Serra's compatriot Gael Monfils did triumph though, rallying back from a set down to win 1-6 6-1 6-4 against Marco Chiudinelli.

Fifth seed Marcos Baghdatis showed his undoubted class with some characteristically creative groundstrokes as he beat Simon Greul 6-3 6-2, while Leonardo Mayer looked in good form as he overcame fourth seed Thomaz Belluci 6-4 6-1.

Former world No. 7 Richard Gasquet continued his return by recording a 6-0 2-6 6-3 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov and Potito Starace beat Lukasz Kubot 6-3 6-4.

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