United States Grabs Lifeline; France Clinches QF Spot

© Getty ImagesJohn Isner and Bob Bryan gave the United States a lifeline with victory in the doubles.

Serbia 2 United States 1

The United States earned a lifeline in its Davis Cup first-round tie against Serbia with a four-set victory in Saturday’s doubles rubber on clay in Belgrade. John Isner stepped in to replace Mike Bryan, who was suffering from food poisoning, and partnered Bob Bryan to secure a 7-6(8), 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-3 win over Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic.

Playing without his twin brother, Mike, for the first time in a Davis Cup rubber, Bob Bryan teamed with Isner to match the 18 aces that Tipsarevic and Zimonjic fired and the duo converted two of six break points to seal victory after three hours and six minutes. Victory improved Bryan’s Davis Cup doubles record to 17-2, while the 24-year-old Isner notched his first victory in the ITF men’s team competition, having fallen to Viktor Troicki on his debut yesterday.

“Mike got room service, chicken curry, and at 3am he started to get the shakes and started to vomit. We put him on an IV, he came out to the stadium and tried to practise but shook his head as he knew he couldn’t finish a match,” Bob Bryan said. “I picked John because I wanted to back up that big serve and I think we combined pretty well.”

The United States, a winner of the Davis Cup 32 times, now trails Serbia 1-2 in the tie and will need to win both reverse singles rubbers on Sunday to complete the comeback and reach the quarter-finals. World No. 2 Novak Djokovic is scheduled to play Isner in the first match, before Troicki takes on Sam Querrey.

“I think the doubles is going to help John a lot,” American captain Patrick McEnroe said. “The fact he has two matches under his belt now, I think we’re going to see him play his best tennis. Obviously it’s a very tough match against Novak but we’re looking forward to it.”

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Sweden 1 Argentina 2

After initially going down 0-1 in its tie against Sweden, Argentina has hit back to turn the tide in its favour after a straight-sets victory in Saturday’s doubles clash in Stockholm. David Nalbandian teamed with Horacio Zeballos to dismiss Robert Lindstedt and Robin Soderling 6-2, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in two hours and 30 minutes.

The 28-year-old Nalbandian, who only arrived in the Swedish capital on Thursday night after seeming an unlikely participant with a leg injury, was playing his first Davis Cup tie since the 2008 final, when Argentina was beaten by Spain. Zeballos, 24, was making his Davis Cup debut.

France 3 Germany 0

Nine-time Davis Cup champion France booked its place in the quarter-finals for the ninth time in the past 10 years after Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra defeated Germany’s Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in two hours and 22 minutes on Saturday.

“He’s good,” said Llodra of Benneteau, “he has a good spirit, that’s the most important thing. When you play doubles you have to be strong on the court – Julien proved he’s a good guy on the court and a nice guy.”

On Friday, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had given the hosts a 2-0 lead in Toulon with victories in the first two singles rubbers. Victory in the tie marked France’s 150th Davis Cup win.

Chile 2 Israel 0

In the first rubber of the Davis Cup first-round tie between Chile and Israel, former Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu gave the hosts a 1-0 lead with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Dudi Sela on Friday in Coquimbo. The tie was re-scheduled for 6-8 March after the recent earthquake in the region.

The 30-year-old Massu notched his 22nd singles win in Davis Cup play. Chile is looking to advance to the World Group quarter-finals for the first time since 2006 (l. to United States).

Chile's No. 1 player, Fernando Gonzalez, extended the home team's lead to 2-0 when he also rallied from a set down to defeat Harel Levy 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.