Wimbledon doubles champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert had to fight hard to defeat lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to give France a 2-1 lead over the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.
A week after beating Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in straight sets to clinch the their first Wimbledon title, Mahut and Herbert needed five sets on the indoor hard court for a victory that puts France one win away from a Davis Cup SF.
Amid increased security following the deadly attack in the French city of Nice, Mahut closed it out with an overhead volley on the first match point in the eastern Czech city of Trinec.
In Sunday’s first reverse singles, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can clinch the best-of-five series with a victory over Jiri Vesely. If he fails, the tie will be decided in the final reverse singles with Rosol facing lucas Pouille.
On Friday, Rosol prevailed after almost four hours over Tsonga 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 to put the Czechs 1-0 ahead before Pouille made a victorious Davis Cup debut for France by beating Vesely 7-6 (2), 6-4, 7-5 to level the tie at 1-1. On the Czech pair, Rosol replaced originally named Adam Pavlasek who had a back problem, and struggled with his serve.