Davis Cup Final—Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona

To the delight of 16,000 screaming fans, the team of Fernando Verdasco and Felicano Lopez clinched an insurmountable 3-0 win for the home nation, defeating the substitute duo of Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7), 7-5, 6-2, claiming Spain's second consecutive Davis Cup title.

Czech team captain Jaroslav Navratil, who had opted to play Stepanek and Berdych instead of his original tandem of Lukas Dlouhy and Jan Hajek, made the 11th hour decision based on the desperation of being down 2-0.

After losing both singles matches to Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer on Friday, Saturday posed a do-or-die scenario for Navatril: Play your best players, or regret the decision at a later date. 

It seemed that early on the game plan of Navratil had prevailed. Stepanek, who had lost an epic heartbreaker to Ferrer less than 24 hours ago, was poised and confident while approaching the net.

After trading initial breaks in the opening set, the four predominant singles players exuded their talents to the highest degree. 

Verdasco's speed breaking forehand began the penetrate through the court; Lopez's lefty serve was finding its spots with ease; Berdych's two-handed backhand up-the-line was measured to perfection; Stepanek's cunning and subtle drop shots were constantly employed.

Heading into the first set tie-break (perhaps the match in a nutshell), both teams remained determined while holding their service points with regularity.

The Czechs', who squandered their only set point while leading 7-6,  lost three consecutive points to trail one set to love. 

With the confidence of the first set on their side, the remainder of the match became a relative formality for the Spaniards, who converted on their lone break chance in the 11th game of the second set, based on the strength of winning 81 percent of their first serve points.

Down two sets, the Czechs' wilted in the final set, succumbing to both the mental and physical strain of Friday's singles matches.

Stepanek's serve began to land shorter in the box, while Berdych's volleys became easy knock offs for the Spaniards.

Relying on two breaks of serve in the third set, Verdasco and Lopez closed out the contest after two hours and 47 minutes when Stepanek dumped a final forehand into the net.

Berdych, who was the youngest of the four combats on court, summed up his teams performance in his post match presser.

“They deserved to win this tie,” Berdych said. “Definitely, we were second in almost all the things that happened in the court today," said Berdych.

With the win, Spain captured its fourth Davis Cup title since 2000, making them the sixth most successful Davis Cup team behind the United States, Australia, France and Britain and Sweden.

The win also made Albert Costa the first team captain since Javier Durate to win the title in his first year of captaincy.

Costa, who was  jubilant on court, shared a few words of praise for the synergy of his team.

“We didn’t expect to win it this quickly,” said Costa. “The key to this team has been its unity.”

The depth of Spain's national team is striking to say the least. Boasting enough talent to realistically field three teams, the championship charge led by Nadal and Ferrer couldn't have been possible without the contribution of Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Robredo, and Nicolas Almagro throughout the year—all of whom were in attendance on Saturday.

The Spaniards will now look forward to a much needed off season, before igniting their quest for a third consecutive title next year.

Spain will host none other the Roger Federer and Switzerland in a home tie in the opening round.

There will be singles action on Sunday in Barcelona, likely featuring Ferrero and Lopez against Hajek and Dlouhy respectively.

Please check back on Sunday for the results from the final day of tennis in this season.