Ostrava, Czech Republic: Defending champion Czech Republic reached the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup on Sunday after Tomas Berdych won the first reverse singles to clinch the first-round tie 3-1.
Berdych, an Australian Open semifinalist, dispatched Thiemo de Bakker 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 on an indoor hard court at CEZ Arena.
Berdych was never threatened and converted his first match point with a forehand winner. He hit 35 winners to De Bakker's 18.
Seeking their third straight Davis Cup title, the Czechs won the 10th consecutive Davis Cup series. They will travel for the April 4-6 quarter-final to Japan, which beat Canada 4-1 in another first-round tie.
"I want to enjoy the victory now and we'll see what happens next," Berdych said.
The result of the second reverse singles match between Lukas Rosol and Igor Sijsling cannot change the overall Czech victory in the best-of-five series.
The seventh-ranked Berdych improved to a 3-1 record against the 139th-ranked De Bakker who surprisingly beat the Czech at an ATP tournament in Bastad, Sweden last year.
"I may not have the best record against him," Berdych said. "Today I was ready."
Berdych also swept aside Sijsling 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the opening singles on Friday and produced another dominant performance on Sunday.
He didn't waste time and broke De Bakker's first two service games in the opening set for a commanding 5-0 lead.
Berdych secured a break in the seventh game of the second set and served it out with an ace.
De Bakker hit the net in the opening game of the third set to lose his serve and Berdych broke him again with a forehand winner to race to a 4-1 lead. Berdych lost his only serve to allow de Bakker to reduce his lead to 5-3 before breaking him again in the following final game of the match.
De Bakker replaced the originally nominated Robin Haase, who was tired after spending almost eight hours in the previous two days on the court in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava.
Haase gave the Netherlands a 1-0 lead with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1 win over Radek Stepanek in the opening singles match on Friday and teamed up with Jean-Julien Rojer for a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) loss to Berdych and Stepanek.
At Frankfurt, Daniel Brands defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (5), 6-4 to wrap up a 4-1 win for Germany over Spain in their Davis Cup World Group first round tie on Sunday.
Brands was the only German player available to play on Sunday, after Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber won their doubles match on Saturday for an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Kohlschreiber pulled out of his reverse singles match against Spanish No. 1 Feliciano Lopez, while Haas was also unavailable. Florian Meyer had a shoulder injury.
German captain Carsten Arriens was whistled and heckled by the home crowd when he announced there would only be one match.
Germany, which last won the trophy in 1993, plays France in the quarter-finals in April, while five-time champion Spain faces a World Group playoff in September.
Gael Monfils completed France's 5-0 rout of Australia in the first round of the Davis Cup by defeating Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Sunday.
Monfils dropped serve twice but broke Kyrgios three times, after Julien Benneteau cruised past Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 6-1 in Sunday's first reverse singles match.
Benneteau broke Kokkinakis four times and did not face a single break point, hitting 30 winners to 14 for his opponent.
France secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the competition when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet defeated Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 7-5 in Saturday's doubles to hand the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead.
On Friday, Tsonga eased past Hewitt 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2), and Gasquet routed Kyrgios 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-2.
France will face Germany in the quarter-finals while Australia will compete in the playoffs to stay in the World Group.
Despite the defeat, Australia still holds a 10-5 record against France in the competition.
At Novi Sad, Serbia, Dusan Lajovic and Filip Krajinovic won the reverse singles on Sunday to cushion Switzerland's triumph over Serbia to 3-2 in their Davis Cup first round World Group tie.
Switzerland had already secured the match with its doubles victory on Saturday. On Friday, Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka both won their singles matches and pulled out of the reverse singles.
Lajovic beat Michael Lammer 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to win Serbia's first point of the match. The 102nd-ranked Lajovic is Serbia's top player in the absence of Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki.
"I am glad I won at least this one point for Serbia," said Lajovic, who was beaten by Federer on Friday.
Filip Krajinovic beat Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 6-4.
Switzerland will face Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals in April.
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