Swiss lead in Serbia; Czechs go level
Federer beat Ilija Bozoljac in straight sets while Wawrinka, fresh from winning his maiden grand slam title at the Australian Open.
Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka gave Switzerland a 2-0 lead over last year’s runners-up Serbia while injury-hit Spain trailed Germany by the same margin as the Davis Cup World Group first-round ties got underway on Friday. Serbia fielded a second string team without world number two Novak Djokovic, two months after they lost to the Czech Republic in the final, and were quickly under pressure in Novi Sad.
Federer beat Ilija Bozoljac in straight sets while Wawrinka, fresh from winning his maiden grand slam title at the Australian Open, eased past Dusan Lajovic in four. Five-times champions Spain, without injured world number one Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer, got off to a poor start against Germany in Frankfurt with rookie Roberto Bautista Agut easily beaten by Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets.
They put up more of a fight in the second rubber but a gutsy effort from Feliciano Lopez was eventually repelled by Florian Mayer after five sets. The Czechs, who retained the Davis Cup in November, were level at 1-1 with the Netherlands in Ostrava, with Radek Stepanek going down in five tough sets to Robin Haase before Tomas Berdych thrashed Igor Sijsling in straight sets.
France got off to a flier against Australia with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beating veteran Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets after Richard Gasquet outclassed Nick Kyrgios, also in three. Britain lead the United States 2-0, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray having beaten John Isner’s replacement Donald Young in straight sets before 175th-ranked James Ward upset big-serving American Sam Querrey in five sets.
Ward came from 1-6 7-6 3-6 down to stun a partisan US crowd at Petco Park in San Diego. Canada were level with Japan, Italy and Argentina were also all square and Kazakhstan were leading 2-0 at home to Belgium.
Commanding lead
Switzerland go into Saturday’s doubles with a commanding lead after Federer beat Bozoljac 6-4 7-5 6-2 in the opening singles before Wawrinka overcame Lajovic 6-4 4-6 6-1 7-6(7). Federer recovered from 5-2 down in the second and having weathered the storm against hard-hitting Bozoljac, the former world number one raced through the third set to fire the Swiss ahead.
Wawrinka, who showed signs of fatigue after a long-haul flight from Melbourne following his win over Nadal in the Australian Open final on Sunday, had to dig deep to fend off a spirited challenge from 23-year old Lajovic. The Serb squandered two set points in the fourth set tiebreak, after coming back from 3-0 down in the set and the breaker, but choked under pressure and blasted an easy smash beyond the baseline as Wawrinka sealed the match.
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