U.S. Davis Cup Team Falls Behind Czechs 2-1

Czech captain Vladislav Savrda beat American counterpart Tom Gullikson at his own game Saturday, leaving the Davis Cup defenders one match from elimination.

Savrda switched his doubles team overnight, choosing his top singles players Petr Korda and Daniel Vacek instead of doubles specialists Martin Damm and Jiri Novak.

Korda and Vacek routed Americans Patrick McEnroe and Patrick Galbraith 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, giving the Czechs a 2-1 lead in the quarterfinal match.

Gullikson stayed with McEnroe and Galbraith, passing up a chance to use his top singles player Todd Martin, who is also one of the world’s best at doubles.

Martin, ranked 17th in the world, will face No. 35 Vacek in today’s first singles match. That could leave it to No. 19 MaliVai Washington facing No. 41 Korda in what could be the decider.

Also Saturday, Sweden and France clinched semifinal berths over India and Germany, respectively. The Swedes will meet the United States-Czech winner. Italy took a 2-1 lead over South Africa.