Czech Republic ties Kazakhstan 1-1 in Davis Cup

By foxsports
Published

The Czech Republic and Kazakhstan are tied 1-1 after opening singles play in the first round of the Davis Cup.

Australian Open quarterfinalist Tomas Berdych defeated Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3 on Friday to rally the Czechs. Kazakhstan is making its World Group debut and took a 1-0 lead when Andrey Golubev outlasted Jan Hajek 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

In Saturday's doubles, the Czech pair of Lukas Dlouhy and Jiri Vesely are to play Yuriy Schukin and Evgeny Korolev. But it widely expected that Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil will replace the 17-year-old Vesely with Berdych.

The winner of the best-of-five series plays Argentina or Romania in the quarterfinals in July.