The Czech Republic won the Davis Cup for the first time in its history with a 3-2 defeat of Spain on Sunday, sparked by the fifth rubber heroics of veteran Radek Stepanek.
The 33-year-old secured the trophy for the hosts, their first as a relatively new nation of less than two decades as he beat Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 7-6 (7-0), 3-6, 6-3 in nearly four hours.
Czechoslovakia won the Davis Cup 30 years ago.
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Stepanek became the first over-30 player in a century to win a live fifth rubber, following Briton James Parke (31) from 1912. Earlier David Ferrer had kept Spain in the tie as he beat Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 in the first of the day’s reverse singles to knot the weekend at 2-2.
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