Britain have lost their Davis Cup tie against the Czech Republic.

Tim Henman slumped to a straight sets defeat to Jiri Novak to put the Czechs into an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie.

Henman's 6-4 6-2 6-2 defeat rendered the scheduled final clash meaningless, but the Czechs won it anyway depsite opting to play little-known Bohdan Ulihrach ahead of Slava Dosedel.

Ulihrach defeated Jamie Delgado 5-7 7-5 6-4.

Coach David Lloyd said the Czechs played fantastic tennis and deserved to win, especially on their favoured clay surface.

The 25-year-old Novak controlled the match from start to finish to set up a second-round tie for the Czechs in April against the USA.

The Americans beat Zimbabwe 3-2 thanks to newcomer Chris Woodruff winning the deciding singles match against Zimbabwe's Wayne Black.

Britain will now play Zimbabwe in a play-off which will see the losers relegated from the World Group.

Henman, who was still visibly tired from his five-set marathon comeback against Slava Dosedel on Friday, could never find his rhythm against the lanky Czech on the slow indoor clay of Ostrava's winter stadium.

Britain, who were without injured Greg Rusedski, now face a July play-off against the loser of the Zimbabwe/USA game to stay in among the top 16 tennis playing nations.

Two-man team

Henman admitted that Rusedksi's absence had been crucial, and said players like Delgado and Arvind Palmer had to take a step up to provide Britain with the necessary strength in depth.

"It was unfortunate that Greg has been injured and it's very important some of the guys behind keep pushing up," said the British no 1.

"The harsh reality is that in the World Group we are still a two-man team to a certain extent.

"Novak today could go out there feeling he had nothing to lose in a certain respect, playing someone ranked higher than himself and knowing he's got another really good, tough clay-court partner behind him.

"It wasn't mission impossible because if we had taken our chances in the doubles we could have been 2-1 up instead of 2-1 down.

"But without question it's the hardest tie I've played in and to be honest, even if Greg and I were playing it would have been an uphill battle."

Henman admitted to feeling the pressure of having to play two singles matches as well as the Saturday doubles.

"I'm sure I'm not as fresh as I was but I don't think it would have made much difference. I have to give all credit to Novak for the way he played.

"He seemed to make very few unforced errors, he was putting me on the defensive and moving forward at every opportunity. It's very disappointing to lose the tie but you have to give him credit.

"That's sport at the highest level. There are some days when you play against players who are 100% on their game and giving very little away.

"You have to try everything you know to try and break their rhythm but today I wasn't able to do that. The best team won on the day."