BUENOS AIRES — Juan Martin del Potro showed few signs of being slowed by an injured left wrist as he beat Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 Friday to give Argentina a 1-0 lead against the Czech Republic in their Davis Cup semifinal. In Spain, meanwhile, David Ferrer overcame a sluggish start to beat Sam Querrey 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to give Spain a 1-0 lead over the United States in the other semifinal. Del Potro, who was told by doctors not to play with the inflamed wrist, broke the Czech in the ninth game en route to winning the first set. The former US Open champion broke Stepanek twice in the second and third set and got stronger as the match went on. Del Porto looked good during the match, but broke down in tears as he spoke to the crowd afterward on a courtside microphone at Parque Roca, a clay-court venue on the outskirts of the Argentine capital. “In truth, it wasn't easy to play,” del Potro said, with the crowd breaking into chants of “Ole, Ole, Ole” to interrupt him. Stepanek tried to work to del Potro's backhand — where the Argentine uses his left hand on the two-hand shot. Del Potro wound up with only three winners off his backhand compared to 11 for the Czech, an indication he was playing at a disadvantage. Argentina is trying to reach its fifth Davis Cup final. It has lost all four previous finals, including a year ago against Spain. Del Porto said Thursday he would not have played were this an ordinary tournament. No. 1 Czech Tomas Berdych was to face Juan Monaco in second singles late Friday. In the other semifinal Ferrer started well with a break but eventually surrendered his only two service games of the match for the defending champion to trail after the first set. Querrey, returning to Davis Cup for the first time since 2010, failed to maintain his early rhythm and was broken six times by the fifth-ranked Ferrer, who secured a hard-fought victory in 3 hours, 3 minutes after holding off a late charge from his opponent. Ferrer is leading the five-time champion's bids to reach its fourth final in five years with Rafael Nadal injured. “It's never easy to adapt from hard court to clay, and with only three to four days even less,” Ferrer said after improving to 15-0 on clay in the competition. “I didn't feel too bad but I didn't play perfect tennis either.” Nicolas Almagro looks to give Spain a 2-0 advantage when he faces John Isner in the second singles later Friday. The doubles point is up for grabs Saturday when Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez play American brothers Mike and Bob Bryan, who are 3-0 against Spain. Reverse singles are scheduled for Sunday. The final is set for November. Elsewhere, top-ranked Roger Federer beat 159th-ranked Thiemo de Bakker in straight sets and Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Robin Haase to give Switzerland a 2-0 lead over the Netherlands in their Davis Cup World Group playoff Friday. Federer overcame wet and windy conditions on a temporary outdoor clay court in Amsterdam to beat De Bakker 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Federer's doubles partner Wawrinka had a tougher time against Haase, but eventually won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Federer and Wawrinka can wrap up the playoff Saturday by beating Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer in the doubles. In Hamburg, Germany's Florian Mayer saw off Australia's Lleyton Hewitt to level their Davis Cup World Group play-off match 1-1 after teenager Bernard Tomic's earlier win over German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe. In a high-quality match, Mayer needed just over two hours to earn a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 win over ex-world No. 1 Hewitt to level the scores ahead of Saturday's doubles and the two singles rubbers still to come on Sunday. Earlier, Tomic put the guests ahead with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Stebe in a marathon opener which lasted three hours and 17 minutes. Croatian teen in final In Tashkent, sixteen-year-old Donna Vekic of Croatia reached her first WTA final beating Eva Birnerova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the Tashkent Open Friday, becoming the youngest player in six years to play a title match. Vekic will face Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, who beat second-seeded Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-3. Radwanska was the last remaining seed in the tournament. But all eyes were on Vekic, a qualifier in her WTA main draw debut. She has seven straight wins, including three over top-100 players this week. Serving was the difference Friday, as 133rd-ranked Birnerova hit 10 double faults and Vekic nine aces. Wozniak withdraws In Quebec City, Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak injured her right shoulder during a warm-up session and withdrew from Bell Challenge Thursday before her scheduled second-round match against Melanie Oudin. Wozniak, ranked 48th, said she will have a scan Friday. In other second-round matches, Anna Tatishvili beat seventh-seeded Petra Martic 6-2, 6-3, and Kirsten Flipkens edged Mirjana Lucic 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4. — Agencies
