Berdych win has Czechs, Swiss tied

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GENEVA, Switzerland, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Tomas Berdych dominated his final set Friday and pulled the defending champion Czech Republic even with Switzerland in a first-round Davis Cup series.

Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka opened the series with a solid 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Lukas Rosol before Berdych answered with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 decision over Henri Laaksonen.

Wawrinka won three-quarters of the points on serve and dropped just one service game. After using two breaks to take the first set, Wawrinka took advantage of the only chance either player had to win the second. He lost only three points in serve in the set and Rosol dropped just five, but four came in the lone break of the set.

Wawrinka converted both of his break opportunities in the third set for the win.

Berdych, who had 50 winners against 23 unforced errors, saw only one break point on the day. He allowed Laaksonen just 11 points in the third set when he won 80 percent of the points on serve.

Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli will try to give the Swiss the advantage when they play Czechs Ivo Minar and Jiri Vesely in Saturday's doubles match. The Czechs a year ago used Berdych in doubles so a lineup change could be in order.

The series will be decided in Sunday's reverse singles when Wawrinka squares off against Berdych in the marquee match of the weekend before Laaksonen goes against Rosol.

The Czech-Swiss series winner goes to the Davis Cup quarterfinals in April against either Austria or Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan took a 2-0 lead Friday in that series.