The Czech Republic won the Davis Cup for the first time as an independent nation Sunday at Prague, beating Spain 3-2 in the final after Radek Stepanek upset Nicolas Almagro in the last reverse singles.

The 37th-ranked Stepanek beat his 11th-ranked opponent 6-4, 7-6 (0), 3-6, 6-3, converting his second match point to send the 14,500 fans at the O2 Arena into wild celebration.

The victory means the Czechs completed a rare double just two weeks after the women secured the Fed Cup title in the same arena. No country has won both competitions in the same year since the United States in 1990.

The Czechs' only previous victory came in 1980 as Czechoslovakia, which split in 1993, with a team led by Ivan Lendl.

- Associated Press