Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France (right) and his compatriot Nicolas Mahut react as they play against Radek Stepanek and Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic in a double tennis match at the Davis Cup quarter-final match Czech Republic vs France on July 16, 2016 in Trinec.
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On Friday, Rosol prevailed after nearly four hours over Tsonga 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 to put the Czechs 1-0 ahead before Pouille made a victorious Davis Cup debut for France by beating Vesely 7-6 (2), 6-4, 7-5 to level the tie at 1-1.
TRINEC, Czech Republic (AP) – Wimbledon doubles champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert had to fight hard to defeat Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to give France a 2-1 lead over the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.
On Saturday, Czech players Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek will face the now best doubles pair and Wimbledon winners, Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
Delbonis defeated Andreas Seppi 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) on a rain-affected day, but no further play was possible after the match due to bad light.
Pouille wasted two set points at 5-4 before dominating the tiebreaker in the first set.
“I’m speechless”, Rosol said after the match that took nearly four hours.
“I have no words for what happened on the court today”, Rosol told the Czech Television after the game. “Things somehow turned around”. 3 games later he broke Tsonga at 15 to get 4-3 in front, and he sealed the memorable victory in game 10, converting his 3rd match point.
“We’re delighted to take a lead”.
In soggy conditions in Belgrade, defending champions, Great Britain, claimed a 1-0 lead over Serbia as Kyle Edmund faced little trouble in getting past Janko Tipsarevic.
In a tight third set, Tsonga saved four break points in the second game and another two in the fourth game before breaking Rosol in the fifth game and hitting an ace on his second set point.
Mahut and Herbert took only 25 minutes to cruise through the opening set on the hardcourt of the Werk Arena in the eastern Czech steel hub of Trinec. He answered Rosol’s break in the opening game but had no reply after he dropped his serve in the seventh game. The final set started with back-to-back breaks, and Rosol saved another break point in game 4 to stay in contention.
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Big-serving Tsonga hit 18 aces, but just one in the fifth set.
