David Ferrer produced an epic comeback to beat Radek Stepanek and put Spain 2-0 up in the Davis Cup final against Czech Republic on Friday after Rafael Nadal's [ Images ] earlier victory had given the hosts an ideal start.

Nadal, relishing a return to clay, brushed aside Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 to announce his return to form in the opening rubber of the best-of-five match at the indoor Palau Sant Jordi.

The Czechs seemed certain to level the tie as Stepanek set about dismantling the Ferrer serve in the opening two, hopelessly one-sided sets.

The Davis Cup has a habit of producing great comebacks, however, and feeding off the boisterous home support among the 16,200 capacity crowd Ferrer somehow contrived to take a 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 8-6 win before collapsing in joy and exhaustion.

Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil has named the unheralded Lukas Dlouhy [ Images ] and Jan Hajek as his doubles team to play Feliciano Lopez [ Images ] and Fernando Verdasco [ Images ] on Saturday but has the option of reverting to the regular Berdych-Stepanek partnership.

The Czechs need to win the doubles to keep the tie alive for the reverse singles on Sunday.

Spain are the defending champions and three-times winners. The Czechs won the competition for the only time, as Czechoslovakia, in 1980.