France, Czechs and Croatia through in Davis Cup

MADRID, (Reuters) – Doubles specialists Michael  Llodra and Julien Benneteau combined to fire France into the  quarter-finals of the Davis Cup yesterday with a battling  four-set win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber and  Christopher Kas in Toulon.

The victory gave the nine-times winners an unbeatable 3-0  lead in the best-of-five tie and set up a last-eight clash  against champions Spain or Switzerland in July.

Depleted Spain, missing injury casualties Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco and Juan Carlos Ferrero, opened a 2-1 lead  over the Swiss at the Plaza de Toros de la Ribera in Logrono  when Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers dispatched Stanislas  Wawrinka and Yves Allegro in four sets.

The tie now hinges on today’s reverse singles rubbers,  with David Ferrer due to play Wawrinka (1100 GMT) and Nicolas  Almagro facing Marco Chiudinelli.

“It was very important to get this second point for Spain and it will make our work tomorrow a little bit easier,”  Granollers said in a television interview.

The Swiss, without unavailable world number one Roger Federer, are bidding to become the first team to beat the Spanish in 19 home ties stretching back to a defeat by Brazil in 1999. Spain also won the title in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

French captain Guy Forget was pleased with the first Davis Cup outing for Llodra and Benneteau, who survived a third-set  wobble to come through 6-1 6-4 1-6 7-5.

“I’m very satisfied with the way they started the match,” Forget said in a television interview.

“They were a bit shaky in the third set but they came back together in the fourth. We knew it would be a close doubles but  we wanted to win at home.”

Last year’s finalists Czech Republic and 2005 winners Croatia also went through to the quarters yesterday.

Czechs Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek followed up Friday’s singles successes with a straight-sets doubles victory  over Belgium’s Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus in Bree.

In Varazdin, Croatian pair Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic,  who won their singles on Friday, teamed up to see off  Ecuadorian brothers Nicolas and Giovanni Lapentti.

“It wasn’t one-way traffic in the doubles, it was as tough  as we expected it to be, and we are overjoyed to have secured a  berth in the last eight,” Cilic said in a courtside interview.

EARTHQUAKE DISRUPTION

The Czechs will next play Chile or Israel, whose tie was rescheduled to start yesterday because of the disruption caused by last weekend’s earthquake in the centre and south of  the country that claimed hundreds of lives.

Nicolas Massu battled back from a set down to beat Dudi Sela in four sets in the opening singles in Coquimbo and then  said he had struggled for concentration.

“When (the crowd) shouted ‘Do it for the people down  south’, I had trouble concentrating. If I’d lost today, I’m not  sure if I would have been able to pick myself up,” Massu said.

Fernando Gonzalez, 5-1 down in the first set, also  recovered from a set down to win in four seats against Harel  Levy.

Troubled by a problem in his right leg during the match,  the world number 10 said it might be better if he missed the  doubles today and rested for his reverse singles tomorrow.

Croatia will face the United States or neighbours Serbia.

Bob Bryan and John Isner gave the United States a lifeline  in Belgrade on Saturday by winning a tight doubles rubber  against Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic.

That followed Friday’s singles victories for world number  two Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki against Sam Querrey and  Isner.

“A quarter-final clash at home with Serbia looks on the  cards and if we meet them it will be a delicately balanced  tie,” Croatia captain Goran Prpic said.

Doubles specialists Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes kept  alive India’s hopes by crushing Russian pair Teimuraz  Gabashvili and Igor Kunitsyn 6-3 6-2 6-2 in Moscow. India trail  2-1 going into today’s reverse singles.

In Stockholm, Argentina drafted in David Nalbandian to  partner Horacio Zeballos in the doubles against Robin Soderling  and Robert Lindstedt and a straight sets success for the  Argentine pair opened a 2-1 lead for the 2008 finalists.