Bob and Mike Bryan
LONDON - The United States began its Davis Cup defence by opening up an unassailable 3-0 lead over Austria after Bob and Mike Bryan won their doubles match on Saturday.
The Bryan brothers beat Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 for the U.S. team to move into the April 11-13 quarterfinals against France.
"I am glad we finished off the job on the second day," U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe said. "It was a tough draw. Both singles were extremely difficult, but the guys were mentally very strong in handling the circumstances."
France, Argentina and the Czech Republic also reached the quarter-finals after taking 3-0 leads in the best-of-five series Saturday with doubles wins against Romania, Britain and Belgium respectively.
Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic played doubles for Serbia a day after withdrawing from the opening singles match with the flu. Serbia beat Russia to trail 2-1.
Israel won the doubles to lead 2-1 over Sweden, while Germany also leads 2-1 over South Korea ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles. Spain leads 2-0 at Peru ahead of the doubles.
The United States beat Russia 4-1 in the Davis Cup final in December. It used the same four-man team to win at Austria on a difficult clay surface.
Andy Roddick and James Blake won the opening singles Friday against Melzer and Stefan Koubek. Roddick could be rested for the now meaningless reverse singles on Sunday.
France advanced when Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra beat Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 3-6, 6-2 in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu.
The two countries met at the same stage of the Davis Cup last year, and while France advanced 4-1, Mergea and Tecau beat Clement and Llodra in the doubles.
Djokovic’s recovery from illness came just in time for Serbia, which was also forced to replace its other top-ranked player - Janko Tipsarevic - in the singles because they had flu-like symptoms.
So instead of Djokovic and Tipsarevic, Serbia fielded Nenad Zimonjic and Davis Cup rookie Viktor Troicki - and both lost.
Zimonjic returned Saturday alongside Djokovic to beat Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) on an indoor hard court.
"I’m feeling much better than I did the last couple of days," Djokovic said. "It’s still not the way I want it to be, but we are still fighting."
Youzhny played ahead of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, who had a right calf strain.
Nikolay Davydenko was set to play Zimonjic and Youzhny to face Troicki in Sunday’s reverse singles, with a quarter-finals spot against the Czech Republic available.
The Czech team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek beat Olivier Rochus and Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 on indoor carpet to advance.
Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich of Israel defeated Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5 on hard courts in Ramat Hasharon.
In Sunday’s reverse singles, Israel’s Dudi Sela is due to face Thomas Johansson, followed by Harel Levy of Israel playing Jonas Bjorkman.
"Sometimes it’s easier to play when you are 1-2 down because you have to win," Sweden captain Mats Wilander said. "I think we still have a very good chance."
Argentina will be up next for the winners after David Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso beat British pair Jamie Baker and Ross Hutchins 6-2, 7-6 (13), 6-0 in a match briefly delayed by rain.
Britain was missing No. 11 Andy Murray for the matchup on outdoor clay and Argentina won all three of its matches in straight sets.
Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner put Germany 2-1 up with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 win over An Jae-sung and Jun Woong-sun on indoor clay in Braunschweig.
"Our chemistry and harmony was there from the start. We were clearly better," said Kohlschreiber, who beat An in Friday’s singles.
The 44th-ranked Lee Hyung-taik pulled out of the doubles after taking five sets and nearly four hours to beat Florian Mayer in Friday’s singles. Lee was replaced in the doubles by the 329th-ranked An.
On Sunday, Kohlschreiber was set to play Lee and Mayer to face An in reverse singles.
The winner will play Spain or Peru. Spain’s Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco will play Luis Horna and Ivan Miranda later Saturday.