Serbia Beats Czech Republic To Capture Trophy; Tipsarevic, Troicki Notch Singles Wins

© Laci PerenyiNenad Zimonjic, Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki and Miki Jankovic won Serbia's second title at the Power Horse World Team Cup in Dusseldorf.

Serbia has won the Power Horse World Team Cup in Dusseldorf for the second time.

Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki, who were part of the 2009 title-winning squad, helped Serbia to a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic with victories in the singles rubbers on Saturday.

World No. 8 Tipsarevic got Serbia off to a fine start at the Rochusclub with a 7-5, 7-6(8) win over Tomas Berdych in one hour and 57 minutes to break a three-match losing streak against the World No. 7. Tipsarevic, 27, has a 26-11 season record and is now 8-2 at the championship.

"We both played very solid. I was a bit lucky at the end of both sets," said Tipsarevic. "In the second set, his string broke on a very important point, but I felt I deserved to win. I was the better player today in the crucial moments of the match."

Berdych agreed with Tipsarevic's assessment, stating, "I think it was a pretty solid game today but unfortunately there were a couple of things that were a bit unlucky on my side. But that’s how it is in tennis."

In the second rubber, Troicki battled back from a slow start to overcome Czech Radek Stepanek 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and eight minutes to clinch the team title for Serbia.

"I would say that it was not such a great match from both of us. It was more tactical," Troicki said. "I knew he was a bit more tired than me. I was using that and at the end I played good. I also want to thank Janko. He won all of his matches and he helped me a lot today with the pressure. I also want to thank Nenad and Miki. It was great."
 
"In the beginning, I was the better one," believes Stepanek. "I had more control over the game, I was active. But I think the previous days just slowly got me. I got slower on my legs and I didn’t have good positioning on the final shots."

Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic then teamed up to complete a clean sweep for Serbia with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Berdych and Frantisek Cermak in the doubles rubber, which lasted 54 minutes.

Red Group champions, Czech Republic, went 3-0 in round robin play this week and were attempting to capture its third title and the first since 1987. They also won the title in 1981. Blue Group winners, Serbia, also went 3-0 in group play and earned its second trophy on the Dusseldorf clay.