Czechs win seven-hour record epic, Spain face exit
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PARIS (AFP) - The Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol on Saturday beat Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland in the longest ever Davis Cup rubber, a clash which took 7 hours and two minutes.
The 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 24-22 Geneva epic surpassed the previous record when John McEnroe needed 6 hours 22 minutes to beat Mats Wilander 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6 in the tie between the United States and Sweden in 1982.
Chiudinelli double-faulted on match point in a fifth set which lasted 3 hours 35 minutes, after he and his partner had earlier saved 12 match points.
The win gave the defending champion Czechs a 2-1 lead in the World Group clash ahead of Sunday's reverse singles with the winners to play either Kazakhstan or Austria in the quarter-finals in April.
