Sep 19, 2009, 17:20 GMT
Porec, Croatia - Spain and the Czech Republic mowed down opposition to finish weekend ties a day early Saturday as both qualified 3-0 into December's Davis Cup final.
Thomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek completed their two-man weekend demolition of 2005 winner Croatia to put Czechs through over Croatians Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.
The match was interrupted for a quarter of an hour at the start of the third set due to a power failure at the arena in the seaside resort. Neither of the winners seemed bothered after playing to marathon wins the day before, with Stepanek's victory over Ivo Karlovic lasting six hours.
Before the nation divided into Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, Czechoslovakia won the Davis Cup in 1980, defeating Italy on carpet in Prague in the final. It also reached the 1975 final, losing to Sweden.
'This is an unbelievable success for our country, we made it to the final after 29 years,' said Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil. 'I'm really proud of our players.
'They played well in all three matches.'
In Murcia, southern Spain, Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo defeated Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-2.
Spain, which beat Argentina a year ago for the title, will feature in a final for the fifth time in ten years.
Robredo and Lopez worked well together,' said Spanish captain Albert Costa, who is hoping to have injured Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco back for the final December 4-6 in Spain, presumably on clay.
Robredo and Lopez gained an edge over their Israeli opposition after splitting the first two sets with the first-time semi-finalists.
The experienced Iberians prevailed with five breaks of serve and 63 winners, clinching the final for their nation in three and three-quarters hours.
Berdych and Stepanek, playing their fifth Davis doubles rubber together since pairing up in 2007 against Switzerland, stand undefeated at 5-0.
The pair took two and a quarter hours to overwhelm the untried Croatian pairing in a loss which doomed the 2005 champion hosts from any fightback possibility of reaching a second Davis Cup final.
The defeat was bitter for Croatia, having lost only once in the previous dozen home ties.
It was the first semi-final in 13 years for the Czechs who lost to Sweden the last time they reached this level.
The winners broke on five of seven opportunities while holding the Croatian 0-2 and committing just 11 unforced errors.
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