Mon May 19 13:56:31 2008

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U.S. tops Czechs in World Team opener

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Dusseldorf, Germany (Sports Network) - The United States won a doubles match on Monday to defeat the Czech Republic 2-1 in round-robin action at the $2.34 million ATP World Team Championship, a clay-court French Open tuneup.

On Day 2 here, an American tandem of James Blake and Wayne Odesnik beat a Czech duo of Tomas Berdych and Pavel Vizner 0-6, 7-5, 10-8 to move to 1-0 in the four-nation Red Group. The 2007 runner-up Czechs fell to 0-1 in the group.

On Sunday, the U.S. got a straight-set singles win from Odesnik against Ivo Minar, while Blake succumbed to Berdych in three.

The U.S. hasn't won this event since 1993.

In other Red Group activity on Monday, Sweden (1-0) surprised defending champion Argentina (0-1), as Juan Ignacio Chela pulled the Argentines even with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Swede Thomas Johansson, but Sweden capped the 2-1 upset with a 7-5, 6-2 doubles victory by Robin Soderling and Robert Lindstedt over an Argentine tandem of Lucas Arnold and Sebastian Prieto.

The Swedes took a 1-0 lead on Sunday when Soderling beat Guillermo Canas in singles.

In the four-nation Blue Group, the host Germans (1-0) beat Spain (0-1) 2-1 and Russia (1-0) topped Italy (0-1) 2-1. The 2005 champion Germans beat the Spaniards when their doubles team of Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner outlasted a Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 10-5. Earlier in the day in singles, Lopez pulled Spain even with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Denis Gremelmayr. The Russia-Italy matchup was decided on Sunday, when Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev both won singles matches. On Monday, an Italian doubles team of Simone Bolelli and Potito Starace stopped a Russian tandem of Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4 to cap the round-robin meeting.