PARIS - The Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol yesterday 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.