Czech Rep, Spain stay on course
Croatia's Ivo Karlovic served a world record 78 aces, but still lost a six-hour Davis Cup semifinal marathon on Friday as the Czech Republic and holders Spain closed in on a December title showdown.
The Czechs, who haven't reached the final since their 1980 championship victory, finished the opening day of their last four clash against Croatia, the 2005 winners, with a 2-0 lead in Porec.
Spain, meanwhile, cruised through their opening two rubbers against semifinal debutants Israel in Murcia, shrugging off the absence of injured world number two Rafael Nadal.
World number 16 Radek Stepanek won a five-hour, 59-minute epic against Karlovic 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (2/7), 16-14.
The second rubber, which took three hours and 48 minutes to complete, saw Tomas Berdych beating US Open quarterfinalist Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.
Karlovic's 78 aces broke the world record by 23. He also had five match points but was unable to prevent Stepanek carving out the only break for a 15-14 lead in the last set.
The match was just one minute short of becoming only the fourth Davis Cup rubber in history to break the six-hour barrier, while the total number of games (82) equalled the highest in a tournament rubber since the tiebreak was introduced.
"It was really close match, it was long and I had match points," said Karlovic.
Stepanek described what it felt like to face an aces barrage.
"It was like putting you in front of a wall and shooting at you," said the Czech.
Victory on Saturday for US Open doubles winner Lukas Dlouhy and partner Jan Hajek over Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko will put the Czechs into the final.
They are likely to face Spain who are 2-0 ahead of Israel after David Ferrer swept past Harel Levy 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 before Juan Carlos Ferrero outclassed Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-2, 6-0.
Ferrero had replaced world number two Nadal, who was ordered to rest by doctors after suffering abdominal problems at the US Open where he was eliminated in the semifinals.
But Spain were never in trouble on their favoured clay courts against an Israel team who had stunned two-time champions Russia 4-1 in the quarterfinals.
Three-time champions Spain have won all three of their previous meetings with Israel and boast an impressive record of 16 straight wins at home and 18 consecutive victories on clay.
They will book a place in their seventh final unless Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich can beat Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo in Saturday's doubles.
In the World Group play-offs, where the winners will secure places in the elite 16-nation field in 2010, Roger Federer shrugged off his heart-breaking US Open final defeat to seal a 2-0 lead for Switzerland against Italy in Genoa.
The world number one eased past Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 after Stanislas Wawrinka had enjoyed a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Andreas Seppi.
"Given the circumstances, I am extremely happy with my performance," said Federer, who had been beaten by Juan Martin del Potro in the US Open final just 85 hours earlier.
In Johannesburg, India were 2-0 ahead of South Africa with Somdev Devvarman seeing off Izak van der Merwe 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-4 before Rohan Bopanna recovered to beat Rik de Voest 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
In Maastricht, France levelled to finish 1-1 with the Netherlands, Serbia were 2-0 ahead of Uzbekistan, Belgium led Ukraine 2-0 while Sweden and Romania were 1-1.
Chile were facing Austria while Brazil were tackling Ecuador.
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