PRAGUE — Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek put defending champion Czech Republic into the Davis Cup final by beating Argentina's Carlos Berlocq and Horacio Zeballos in the doubles Saturday. World No. 5 Berdych and US Open doubles champion Stepanek defeated the Argentines 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, giving the Czechs an unassailable 3-0 lead in their semifinal and a place in their third final in five years. They will face either Canada or Serbia on Nov. 15-17. The Czech duo, who played in every live rubber in the title run last year, teamed up for the first time this year after injuries prevented them playing the early rounds together. Canada level with Serbia In Belgrade, Canada ended the first day of their Davis Cup semifinal with Serbia level on 1-1 as Janko Tipsarevic failed to follow up Novak Djokovic's opening win. In the first rubber, it took only 100 minutes for world No. 1 Djokovic to compellingly and confidently rout 41st-ranked Canadian Vasek Pospisil, giving Serbia an early lead. But in the following rubber, Montenegro-born Canadian Milos Raonic, the world number 11, defeated the 23rd-ranked Janko Tipsarevic in a dramatic five-set match 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. Spain joins World Group In Madrid, US Open champion Rafael Nadal teamed up with Marc Lopez to give Spain an unassailable 3-0 lead over Ukraine in their Davis Cup World Group play-off. The Spanish pair beat Denys Molchanov and Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4 in just over three hours to ensure the five-time champion will remain amongst the world's top 16 nations next year. It was Nadal's third best-of-five set match in just six days as after sealing his 13th Grand Slam title in New York Monday, he cruised to a 6-0, 6-0, 6-4 win over Stakhovsky on Friday. The 27-year-old hadn't been expected to play in the doubles having not done so in the Davis Cup since pairing up with Fernando Verdasco to beat the Italian pair of Daniele Bracciali and Giorgio Galimberti back in 2005. Poland puts brakes on Aussies In Warsaw, Australia's hopes of returning to the Davis Cup World Group suffered a jolt when Poland kept the two nations' play-off alive Saturday. Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski defeated Chris Guccione and debutant Nick Kyrgios 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 in the doubles rubber after Australia had won both of Friday's singles. Saturday's defeat ended Guccione's run of eight successive wins in the tournament. On Friday, former world number one Lleyton Hewitt beat Lukasz Kubot, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 while Bernard Tomic saw off Michal Przysiezny, 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4. Jovanovski bags Tashkent Open Top-seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia earned her second career WTA title Saturday by outlasting Olga Govortsova of Belarus 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the final of the Tashkent Open. The 21-year-old Jovanovski also won a tournament in Baku last year, while the 113th-ranked Govortsova was looking for her first WTA title. She made her first Grand Slam appearance at this year's US Open. — Agencies
