AFP
 
Barcelona, Dec 6: Spain won its fourth Davis Cup title on Saturday when the doubles pair of Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez demolished their Czech opponents to give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead.

Spain becomes the first country since Sweden in 1998 to retain the Davis Cup, after triumphing last year in Argentina.

"It was an incredible moment to return as captain after winning here nine years ago," said Spanish team captain Albert Costa, who as a player helped Spain to its first ever Davis Cup title in 2000, beating Australia at the same Palau Sant Jordi Arena in Barcelona.

Spain won again in 2004, defeating the USA.

On Saturday, Verdasco and Lopez overwhelmed an exhausted Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych, who had lost both Friday's opening singles, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, 6-2, in what was the Czech pair's first ever Davis Cup defeat in six matches.

In Friday's opening singles, world number two Rafael Nadal, who had limped out of last week's ATP World Tour finals in London without a single win, cruised past Berdych 7-5, 6-0, 6-2.

Then David Ferrer, ranked 18, came back from two sets down to beat Stepanek 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 8-6 in an epic match that lasted four hours and 17 minutes.

After Saturday's win, the crowd, along with the Spanish players, chanted "David, David" in tribute to Ferrer's gutsy performance the previous day.

"We have won today, but yesterday we won two important points," said Lopez. "I would like to highlight the match that David played yesterday. The final is his."

Despite their matches the previous day, Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil fielded Stepanek and Berdych, ranked 12th and 20th in the world, for the crucial doubles match over his initial choice of Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy, 102 and 465 respectively, in a desperate bid to snatch the cup from the defending champions.

The most decisive point on Saturday came in the first set, which came down to the first tiebreak of the final after an early exchange of service breaks.

The Czechs earned a set point at 7-6 before Verdasco and Lopez went on to win 9-7 in a long final rally.

Then with the second set poised at 5-5, Lopez and Verdasco were 0-40 down but came back to break the Czechs after Berdych missed consecutive volleys at the net.

An early break for the Spaniards in the third set left the struggling visitors with too much to do.

The Czechs were quick to acknowledge their opponents' dominance.

"They deserved this win," said Berdych. "The key was in the first set when we dropped the set point. After that they were confident and left us no openings."

With nine representatives in the world's top 50 players, Spain has an extraordinary strength in depth that allowed it to keep players such as Tommy Robredo, ranked 16, and former world no. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in reserve.

"To win four times in nine years shows how strong Spanish tennis is," said Stepanek. "Spain has such a reservoir of players that it could present a second team almost as strong as the first."

Spain beat Serbia 4-1, Germany 3-2 and Israel 4-1 en route to the final.

"Playing in the final at home was very moving," said Nadal. "I thank my fellow players for having given me the opportunity - me who was not there in the quarter-finals or semi-finals."

Nadal will face Stepanek while Ferrer plays Berdych in Sunday's two dead rubbers in the best-of-five tie.

The Czechs won their only Davis Cup title as Czechoslovakia with Ivan Lendl in their squad in 1980.