The Czech Republic reached the Fed Cup semifinals for the sixth straight year when they came from 2-1 down to beat hosts Spain 3-2 in their rain-affected tie on Monday.
The Czech Republic, champions in 2011 and 2012, will host Italy in April, when Australia will welcome Germany.
Spain led 1-0 coming into Monday, having won the opening singles on Saturday before rain delayed the rest of the ties.
Photo: EPA
Klara Zakopalova, down a set when rain stopped her singles on Sunday, finished off Spain’s Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 first on Monday, but could not hold the momentum when she returned to the outdoor clay-court against Carla Suarez Navarro, who won her second singles 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Lucie Safarova, who was too ill on Friday to be play, benefited from the extra day of rest as she beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 to even the tie and make the doubles the decider.
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Andrea Hlavackova, a first-time pair in the Fed Cup, clinched it for the Czech side when they won 7-6 (7), 6-3 over another team on debut, Suarez Navarro, who had not played cup doubles in six years, and Soler-Espinosa, who was playing her first cup doubles.
US NATIONAL INDOOR
AFP, MEMPHIS, Tennessee
Czech Jiri Vesely made short work of fifth-seeded Marinko Matosevic on Monday with a straight-sets win over the Australian in the first round of the US National Indoor Tennis Championships.
Vesely, ranked 81st in the world, defeated the 54th-ranked Matosevic 6-3, 6-2, converting four of his seven break point chances to notch his second ATP Tour match win.
Matosevic, who reached the Memphis semi-finals last year in his event debut, was not the only seed to fall on the first day of competition in the US$647,675 tournament.
Reigning champion Kei Nishikori of Japan is the top seed in the tournament, will not launch his title defense until the second round after enjoying a first-round bye along with fourth-seeded Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan, second-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez and third seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
Last year, Nishikori did not drop a set en route to the title, beating Lopez in the final 6-2, 6-3.
He arrives in Tennessee for his title defense fresh from helping Japan reach the Davis Cup World Group quarter-finals for the first time with a 4-1 first-round victory over Canada earlier this month.
Also on Monday, US veteran Michael Russell rallied from a set down to beat seventh-seeded Michal Przysiezny of Poland 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Russell, 35, posted his first ATP match win of 2014 and next faces American Tim Smyczek, who beat rising Australian talent Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3.
COPA CLARO
AP, BUENOS AIRES
Third-seeded Tommy Robredo reached the second round of the Copa Claro clay-court tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win over fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta on Monday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes.
On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second round with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance.
Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-4, 6-2, while Spaniard Pablo Andujar came back to beat Argentine Federico Delbonis 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Spain’s David Ferrer is top seed, followed by Italy’s Fabio Fognini.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier