Djokovic makes up for doubles loss
World No 1 Serb beats Kazakhstan’s Kukushkin to level scores in tie, Czech Republic beat Germany 3-2
PARIS: Novak Djokovic suffered his first Davis Cup defeat in five years on Saturday against Kazakhstan. The loss enabled Serbia to go down 1-2.
However, the world No 1 Djokovic made up for it after a hard-fought victory over Mikhail Kukushkin in the first reverse singles on Sunday to get Serbia on level terms in the tie.
It took Djokovic over five gruelling hours to emerge victorious as the scoreboard read 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Serb’s favour for the World Group first round tie to be level at 2-2.
On Saturday, partnering Nenad Zimonjic, Djokovic lost the doubles to Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 3-6, 6-7-6(3), 5-7 in Belgrade.
In Hannover, Lukas Rosol defeated 18-year-old Davis Cup debutant Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 to book a place for the Czech Republic in the quar- terfinals with a 3-2 win over Germany on Sunday.
Rosol, ranked 50th in the world, had 13 aces and converted half of his 12 break points to win in 1 hour, 38 minutes.
Earlier, Philipp Kohlschreiber leveled the first-round tie at 2-2 after Tomas Berdych retired due to a right thigh injury with the German leading 6-3, 7-5.
Berdych, ranked 7th in the world, retired after 1 hour, 41 minutes against Germany’s top player.
In Birmingham, the Murray brothers edged Britain closer to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka and Yakut aka Uchiyama on Saturday.
It was a fifth win in five Davis Cup outings for the Murrays who didn’t face a break point on.