Unlikely Germans Into Final at World Team Cup

The under-manned German squad, which lost former No. 2 Tommy Haas to allergies at the beginning of the week, nonetheless advanced to the final Thursday in a bid to successfully defend their title at the ATP World Team Cup, defeating the Czech Republic in a tiebreak in the final match.

German substitute Philipp Kohlschreiber put his team up 1-0 with a three-set win over Robin Vik before Tomas Berdych evened the tie, coming from a set down to defeat Nicolas Kiefer.

In the deciding doubles, German doubles specialists Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske beat Berdych and Leos Friedl 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-5.

In the final Germany will face either Croatia or Chile who meet on Friday.

Argentine defeated Italy 2-1 Thursday when Jose Acasuso beat Davide Sanguinetti 6-2, 6-0 before Italian Filippo Volandri shocked David Nalbandian 6-4, 7-5 to even things at 1-1. The heavy lifting was left up to Acasuso and Sebastien Prieto, who clinched in the doubles with a 7-6(3), 6-1 win over Sanguinetti/Volandri.

"I am very happy with my performance here in this event because I won all my three matches, proving my good level," said the in-form Acasuso. "I am now looking forward optimistically to the French Open. However, we wanted to win the team title here, which unfortunately we failed to achieve."