Radek Stepanek defeated Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 7-6 (7-0) on Sunday and this gave his country and the Czech players a 3-1 lead over France.
France had high hopes for winning at this tournament and their captain Guy Forget had boasted that it was the best France team since the "Musketeers" of the 1920s and 1930s. He was referring to Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste, Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon, who had been the winners of every Davis Cup between 1927 and 1932.
The French line-up of top tennis stars Simon, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet, and Michael Llodra, who is one of the best doubles players in the world, had been expected to do much better than they did.
But it never worked out as France had wanted and Tomas Berdych beat Simon on day one of the event
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Although Tsonga won against Stepanek, the Czechs went back into the lead again by winning in Saturday's doubles.Stepanek then went on to defeat Simon on Sunday.
