UPDATE 1-Tennis-U.S. take 2-1 lead over Czechs after doubles

...

By Jan Lopatka

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic, Bob and Mike Bryan swept past Pavel Vizner and Lukas Dlouhy in straight sets on Saturday to give the United States a 2-1 lead over the Czech Republic in their Davis Cup world group first-round tie.

The Bryans, coming off a successful defence of their doubles title at Australian Open, broke Dlouhy's serve in the 10th game to take the first set.

They managed exactly the same in the following two sets on the slow clay surface in Ostrava's packed 7,000-seat CEZ Arena and secured a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory on a second match point.

"Definitely, they played great tennis in those nine games (in each set)," Bob Bryan told reporters.

"In the final games we definitely upped our level a little bit and got a little lucky. Who knows what it comes down to, it was a little of skill and luck."

The Czechs failed to convert any of their chances in a rubber lasting one hour 41 minutes.

"We did what we could, we left our soul out there," said Vizner. "They are playing very aggressive tennis. If we broke them once or twice, the match would have taken a different course."

On Friday, world number four Andy Roddick put the Americans one up after beating Ivo Minar, ranked 160th, in four sets.

Czech number one Tomas Berdych, ranked 12th, then overcame world number six James Blake to level the score.

The Czech had mulled fielding Berdych in the doubles but in the end decided to let him rest ahead of Sunday's first singles match against Roddick.

Berdych's self-confidence was boosted by Friday's win as well as a victory over Roddick in their sole ATP encounter in Madrid last year.

U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe said Roddick was ready for a tough game.

"I think his mindset is good, he looks forward to these big matches. He knows Tomas is playing very well, so he knows he has to play probably even better than he played in the first match," he said.

The United States have beaten the Czechs in four out of their five Davis Cup encounters.

The winner of the Ostrava tie will meet Spain or Switzerland in the quarter-finals in April.

[Reuters/Finance.cz]