Radek Stepanek celebrates his near six-hour victory over Ivo Karlovic. Photo via d.yimg.com

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For the second time in two ties, Croatia played two five-setters on the first day of Davis Cup action.  But unlike on their opening day sweep of the Americans in July, the opening day of semifinals in Porec found the Croatians on the losing end of both matches.

The jaw-dropping scoreline of the day (and possibly the year) came from the first match, in which Radek Stepanek defeated Ivo Karlovic 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 16-14.  While the 5 hour, 59 minute match was close, it wasn't particularly exciting.  The two traded breaks in the second and third games of the match, but then held for the next seventy-three consecutive games before Stepanek mercifully broke in the twenty-ninth game of the fifth set.

Not only did Karlovic's 78 aces break the previous record for aces in a match, it humiliated the record.  The previous record, also set by Karlovic, was "only" 55, set at Roland Garros this year against Lleyton Hewitt.  Not surprising that both the current and previous records were set by Karlovic, but a little surprising that both came on clay courts.

On top of the 78 aces, Karlovic hit 46 service winners.  Combined with his aces, that makes 124 of 245 points in which Stepanek was not able to get Karlovic's serve back in play.  That's less than half.  For his part, Stepanek had only 14 aces, though 80 service winners.

In the day's shorter match, the one that took only three hours and forty-eight minutes, Tomas Berdych held off Marin Cilic's rally to win 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.

Berdych was money on the biggest points, converting all five break points he held. Cilic went three-for-six.   Converting half of your break points is not a shabby percentage in the slightest, but when you can't save a single one on your own serve, a win probably isn't in the cards.

It's a nice win for Berdych, who stopped himself from blowing a two-set lead for the second time this year, having previously lost the final three sets of a five setter vs. Roger Federer in the Australian Open earlier this year. 

As nice a win as it was for Berdych, it's a disappointing loss for Cilic.  Coming on the heels of beating Andy Murray and making his first grand slam quarterfinal at the US Open, Berdych is a player he should be expected to beat.  Cilic also won the third and fourth sets after dropping the first two in his second round match at the US Open, eventually beating a completely demoralized Jesse Levine 6-0 in the fifth.  But Berdych is a far superior player to Levine, (obviously), and did not wilt the way Cilic may have expected.

It will be interesting to see who each team plays in Saturday's doubles rubber.  Czech Lukas Dlouhy, fresh off a second straight US Open title, is the only player whose presence should be a given.  It would be difficult for either Karlovic or Cilic to bounce back after their heartbreaking losses, but at least one of them needs to play if Croatia is to have a shot of staying alive.  Lovro Zovko and Roko Karanusic can't possibly beat any combination of Czechs.

Regardless of who they play in the doubles, the writing may already be on the wall for the Croats.  The clay surface is definitely not advantageous for Croatia against the Czechs, and may ultimately prove their undoing.  Why the host Croats picked a surface that neutralizes their power advantage is inexplicable to me, and may ultimately prove to be their undoing.