After Richard's convincing win against Tomas Berdych and Tsonga's victory over Lukas Rosol, French DC-captain Arnaud Clément aligned these two for the doubles against Berdych/Stepanek. They did not disappoint. Their 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-1 victory ensured that France will play the DC final in November.
It started well: the French team was quickly 3-0 up but could not hold on to its advantage. Notably Radek Stepanek demonstrated why the Czech doubles has such an excellent DC record. The Czech Team won a close breaker. The second set was equally tight, but one break was enough to level things for Gasquet/Tsonga.Again ahead in the third set, the Frenchies had to see the Czechs came back again, but this time they were more successful in the breaker, with Richard sealing the set with a long line BH winner. In the fourth set, Stepanek was clearly hampered by an injury and the French team cruised to a 6-7 6-4 7-6 6-1 victory. Their opponents in the DC final will be decided in the tie Switzerland/Italy.
