Roddick lifts U.S. to victory

Andy Roddick beat Tomas Berdych, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (4), Sunday to give the United States a victory over the Czech Republic and a place in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

The U.S. won the series, 4-1, and next will play Spain on hard courts in Winston-Salem, N.C., a rematch of the 2004 final in Seville, which Spain won on clay.

Roddick is 8-0 in Davis Cup matches with victory on the line. With a big serve and solid baseline game on the slow clay court, the fourth-ranked American overcame a partisan crowd and one of the game’s rising stars.

The U.S. hadn’t won a Davis Cup World Group series on clay in a decade. Roddick broke the streak when Berdych netted a return in the fourth-set tiebreaker.

“We saw today why Andy Roddick is the fourth-best player in the world,” Czech Coach Jaroslav Navratil said.

In the last match, which had no bearing on the outcome, Bob Bryan beat Lukas Dlouhy, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

The United States leads all nations with 31 Davis Cup titles. But the Americans are looking to end their longest Davis Cup drought, which dates to 1995.

“It is a statistic I don’t like,” said Roddick, 24. “Especially considering I have been on the team for my seventh year now.”

In Friday’s singles, Berdych beat James Blake after Roddick defeated Ivo Minar. The U.S. went up, 2-1, Saturday on a doubles win by Bob and Mike Bryan.

Other World Group first-round winners: Sweden (at Belarus), Germany (home against Croatia), Spain (at Switzerland), France (home against Romania) and Argentina (at Austria). Australia was tied, 2-2, at Belgium, and defending champion Russia was 2-2 at Chile.