The world number 44 beat Spain's Nicolas Almagro in four sets in the fifth match of last year's Davis Cup to give the Czech Republic their first title in 32 years.

"To win two Davis Cups is my greatest achievement," said Stepanek

"To defend this trophy means the world to us.

"The match was the same [as last year's final], under the biggest possible pressure that can be.

"But I knew that I would want to use the experience from last year's final against him.

"Besides the first game, I controlled the match.

"I think I played in my best form ever this weekend."

Radek Stepanek celebrates his straight sets victory over Dusan Lajovic in the fifth and final rubber of the Davis Cup final ©Getty Images



Lajovic, 23, was a late replacement for Serbia after Janko Tipsarevic was ruled out with injury on Thursday night.

The youngster had 17,000 noisy Serbians on their feet when he broke his opponent in the opening game; however this turned out to be his high point of the match as the more experienced Czech highlighted the clear gulf between the two players.

Earliery, world number two Novak Djokovic continued his superb form to beat world number seven Tomas Berdych in straight sets to level the tie at 2-2.

The win was Djokovic's 24th consecutive victory and follows on from his recent ATP World Tour Finals win over Rafael Nadal.

"It was so close, so tense, especially in the second set where one point decided it," said Djokovic, 26.

"It could easily have gone the other way."

Djokovic's efforts were not enough however, and he was unable to lead his team to a repeat of their comeback against France in the 2010 Davis Cup Final.

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