Tomas Berdych beat James Blake 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 to pull the Czech Republic level with the United States at 1-1 in their world group first-round tie on Friday.
Berdych's win brought the home crowd to its feet after being silenced in the opening singles when former world number one Andy Roddick overcame debutant Ivo Minar 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
World number 12 Berdych was the underdog against the sixth-ranked Blake but he broke the American three times in the first set.
Blake hit back in the second, breaking the young Czech twice on the slow clay of the CEZ Arena.
The duo traded baseline blows like two heavyweight boxers until Blake faltered with a double fault in the 12th game to give Berdych the third set.
MATCH POINTS
Blake saved two match points on his serve in the final game of the fourth before sending a forehand wide to end the match after two hours 30 minutes.
"If it was up to me, I would hesitate ever playing on clay, but for this match it ended up being the best choice," Berdych told reporters.
Blake said: "If you're a top-15 player in the world, you have the ability to just play unbelievable tennis and blow your opponent off court.
"He did that in the first set and I kind of caught him in the second."
Earlier, Roddick fired 28 aces to defeat the 22-year-old Minar.
"It (my first serve) was good and it got me out of some tough situations," said the world number four.
"I knew he would play very aggressively, that he was going to play high-risk tennis. If you play a big match like that you are either going to play really well or very badly...and I think in the first two sets he played very well."
Roddick, fresh from reaching the semi-finals of last month's Australian Open, responded in style by taking the third set in 27 minutes before racing into a decisive 3-0 lead in the fourth.
