By Adrianna Outlaw | Saturday, July 16, 2016
Wimbledon champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut edged Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek, staking France to a 2-1 lead over the Czech Republic.
Photo credit: Davis Cup
Wimbledon champions put France one win from the Davis Cup semifinals.
One week after Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut partnered to win Wimbledon, they fought off Radek Stepanek and Lukas Rosol, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in the crucial doubles match to stake France to a 2-1 lead over the host Czech Republic.
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French No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who fell in five sets to Rosol in the opening match on Friday, will face left-hander Jiri Veseley with a shot to clinch France's semifinal spot in Sunday's opening reverse singles.
Tsonga reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, falling in five sets to eventual-champion Andy Murray. Vesely pushed compatriot Tomas Berdych to five sets before bowing in the Wimbledon fourth round.
Rosol is scheduled to play Lucas Pouille in tomorrow's fifth and final match if necessary.
Herbert and Mahut converted the only break point of the deciding set to earn a tense three-hour, one minute victory on the hard court of Werk Arena in Trinec, Czech Republic.
Still, the veteran Stepanek, who made history as the first man to win deciding matches and clinch successive Davis Cup championships in 2012 and 2013, provided entertainment for the home side pulling off this Mansour Bahrami play.
Nine-time Davis Cup champion France is playing for its second semifinal in the last three years. France fell to Switzerland in the 2014 Davis Cup final.