Hewitt, Groth beaten in Davis Cup doubles

Australia’s Davis Cup lead over the Czech Republic has been cut to 2-1 after Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth suffered a five-set doubles loss in Ostrava.

The Australian duo twice led by a set but fell 1-6 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 to Jiri Vesely and Adam Pavlasek on Saturday, extending the first-round World Group tie into the final day.

Wally Masur’s side must now win one of Sunday’s two reverse singles matches to defeat the competition’s top seeds and book a first quarter-final appearance in almost a decade.

Australian No.1 Bernard Tomic has a chance secure the win when he faces Lukas Rosol while Thanasi Kokkinakis is scheduled to play Vesely in the second match, though newly-appointed captain Masur has the option of playing Hewitt or Groth.

Tomic and Kokkinakis won singles matches on Friday to give Australia a 2-0 lead over the 2012 and 2013 champions, who are missing big guns Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.

Masur’s bold decision to play 18-year-old Kokkinakis in the opener paid off spectacularly as the world No.133 came from two sets down to defeat Rosol on Friday, allowing Hewitt and Groth to come in fresh for the doubles.

It appeared a masterstroke as the Australians came out firing early in Saturday’s doubles but the pair ultimately couldn’t make their fresh legs count as errors crept in.

Vesely backed up from a straight-sets defeat to Tomic to pair up with doubles specialist Pavlasek but the local duo was blown away early.

The fired-up Australians, beautifully blending Hewitt’s guile with Groth’s power, successfully targeted 247th ranked Pavlasek as they raced to a one-set lead.

Hewitt and Groth led 3-0 in the second but the Czechs finally found some rhythm, clawing back into the set and easily winning the tiebreaker.

Australia regained control to take the third, with the passionate Hewitt lapping up the occasion in his 39th tie.

The visitors were three points away from winning the tie in the fourth-set tiebreaker but careless errors allowed the Czechs to pounce and force a deciding set.

Riding the raucous Cez Arena support and relentless Czech horns and drums, and helped by an error-riddle Australia, Vesely and Pavlasek raced away with the final set to win in three hours and 14 minutes.

Groth’s frustration was clear to see as he smashed a racquet over his knee.

The winner of the tie will face either Italy or Kazakhstan in the last eight.

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