Serbia reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals Saturday to set up a possible mouthwatering clash between Grand Slam heavyweights Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal while champion Argentina stayed alive. Serbia, the 2010 champion, took an unassailable 3-0 lead over Russia in their World Group opener in Nis when 40-year-old Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki downed Andrey Kuznetsov and Konstantin Kravchuk 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4. Djokovic could face Nadal in the last eight in April should five-time champion Spain see off Croatia in Osijek. Nadal was sitting out the trip to Croatia after reaching the Australian Open final last weekend but would be certain to return to face a Djokovic-inspired Serbia. However, Croatia was trying their best to ignore the script when they took a 2-1 lead over the Spaniards thanks to Marin Draganja and Nikola Mektic carving out a 6-7, (6/8), 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-4 win over Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, the French Open champions. Meanwhile, Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer kept defending champio Argentina in their tie against Italy in Buenos Aires with a marathon 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (9/7) win over Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini. That made the overall score 2-1. The US, the 32-time champion, completed a 3-0 win over Switzerland in Birmingham, Alabama, Saturday when Steve Johnson and Jack Sock beat Henri Laaksonen and Adrien Bossel 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5). In Ottawa, Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot defeated 44-year-old Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 as Britain took a 2-1 lead. In Frankfurt, Belgium was 2-1 ahead of Germany after Ruben Bemelmans and Joris De Loore sealed a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over brothers Alexander and Mischa Zverev. Australia split Sunday's concluding reverse singles matches with the Czech Republic to complete a comfortable 4-1 win. Australian debutant Jordan Thompson beat Jan Satral 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 before Jiri Vesely gained a consolation win for the visitors when he defeated Sam Groth 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 at the Kooyong tennis club in suburban Melbourne. Australia will host the US in April. France completed a 4-1 win over Japan. France secured a quarterfinal berth Saturday with a win by the doubles pairing of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut that followed singles victories by Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon. On Sunday, captain Yannick Noah had the luxury of resting Gasquet and Simon. Mahut replaced Gasquet and took the first set off Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1 before the Japanese player retired with a left wrist injury. Yasutaka Uchiyama beat Herbert 6-4, 6-4 in the final reverse singles match to restore some pride for the hosts. — Agencies
