Berlin, March 7 (IANS) Lukas Rosol’ s three-set win over Germany’ s Alexander Zverev guided Czech Republic into the Davis Cup quarterfinals, following the round of the last-16 in Hannover on Sunday.
The Germans sparked hopes of a comeback as Philipp Kohlschreiber made it 2-2 in the overall standing after Thomas Berdyrch was stopped by a hamstring injury at 6-3 and 7-5 for the German, reports Xinhua.
The hosts pinned thus their hopes on debutant Alexander Zverev in the deciding game against Czech’ s Lukas Rosol. Nevertheless, the World’ s No. 50 made short work of the 18-year old German, and cruised to three straight sets (6-2,6-3,6-1) in 1 hour and 38 minutes.
“Rosol played the match of his life while Alexander could not implement his game. If you have an opponent who returns everything, you have to accept that, although it is difficult,” Germany’ s team coach Michael Kohlmann said.
With the 3-2 overall victory, the Czech Republic book their berth for final eight where they will face France. Meanwhile, Germany will have to battle for their top-flight status in the relegation in September.