DUSSELDORF (Germany), May 27: Argentina came back from the brink to snatch a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic and capture the World Team Cup for the third time on Saturday.
Tomas Berdych gave the Czechs the first point in the final with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over clay-court specialist Juan Ignacio Chela before Agustin Calleri took the tie into the deciding doubles by beating Jan Hajek 6-3, 6-1.
Czech pair Berdych and Martin Damm were cruising towards victory as they led by a set and 4-2 only for Calleri and Jose Acasuso to launch a great fightback.
They reeled off the next four games to set up a match tiebreak and won it convincingly to seal a 2-6, 6-4, 10-4 victory, with an emphatic Acasuso volley on the first match-point.
It gave Argentina their third World Team Cup title following victories in 1980 and 2002.
For the Czech Republic it was a fourth defeat from four appearances in the final.—Reuters