Tomas Berdych helped the Czech Republic rally for a 2-1 victory over Japan at the Team World Cup on Monday.
Japan had a taken a 1-0 lead on Sunday, but Berdych beat Go Soeda 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 and Frantisek Cermak and Radek Stepanek then prevailed in the decisive doubles in the Red Group tie, beating Tatsuma Ito and Soeda 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
In the Blue Group, defending champions Germany completed a 3-0 victory over Russia.
Florian Mayer defeated Igor Andreev 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) and joined up with Christopher Kas to overcome Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 3-6 (10/8).
Serbia also won, with Janko Tipsarevic dismissing Lovro Zovko 6-0, 6-0 for a 2-0 lead over Croatia.
STRASBOURG
AP, STRASBOURG, FRANCE
Tamira Paszek overcame a second-set blip to beat Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Strasbourg International on Monday.
The eighth-seeded Austrian constantly pressured Brianti’s serve, but could only convert four of her 15 breakpoint chances and dropped her own serve five times.
French pair Pauline Parmentier and Stephanie Foretz Gacon advanced in straight sets and next play each other.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei rallied to beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-1.
Parmentier beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4, 6-4, while Foretz Gacon downed Britain’s Elena Baltacha 6-4, 6-0.
OPEN DE NICE
AP, NICE, FRANCE
Heavy rain washed out all play at the Open de Nice clay-court tournament on Monday.
On Sunday, only one match was started and it was later stopped in the second set with Belgium’s Xavier Malisse leading 7-5, 1-0 against Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun.
FRENCH OPEN
AP, PARIS
Tenth-ranked Mardy Fish and women’s No. 16 Andrea Petkovic pulled out of the French Open on Monday.
Fish has not played a match for more than a month and organizers said the big-serving American has fatigue, while Petkovic of Germany has a right-ankle injury.
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