Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates after his Davis Cup World group first round tennis match against Serbia's Ilija Bozoljac in Novi Sad, Serbia, Friday. — Reuters PARIS — Roger Federer got Switzerland off the mark in their Davis Cup World Group opener against Serbia on Friday as France, Germany and Kazakhstan also took early leads. Federer, a last-minute addition to the Swiss team, won through 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 against 268th-ranked Ilija Bozoljac on the hard court surface in Novi Sad. The Swiss, bouyed with two Grand Slam winners in their ranks, are favorites with Serbia weakened by the absence of its top players Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic. Switzerland's newly-crowned Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka is due to take on Dusan Lajovic later Friday. In Astana, Mikhail Kukushkin and Andrei Golubev gave host Kazakhstan a 2-0 advantage against Belgium. Kukushkin beat Ruben Bemelmans 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-3 in just over three hours and was followed by Golubev who overcame David Goffin 7-6 (11/9), 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 12-10 in a four hour 38-minute thriller. In Paris, Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both won in straight sets to give France a commanding 2-0 lead against Australia in their first-round Davis Cup tie Friday. The ninth-ranked Gasquet had little trouble beating teenager Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-2, and the 10th-ranked Tsonga followed up just as emphatically to dispatch Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2) and improve to 4-0 in head-to-heads against the former two-time Grand Slam champion. "They were two very good matches," France captain Arnaud Clement said. In Frankfurt, Philipp Kohlschreiber gave Germany a winning start over five-time winners Spain with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory in less than two hours against Roberto Bautista Agut. Spain's 26th-ranked Feliciano Lopez plays Florian Mayer, ranked 29, in their second rubber. The Spanish are playing without their stars — world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and fifth-ranked David Ferrer. Japan and Canada are 1-1 following the opening day of play in Tokyo. Japanese No. 1 Kei Nishikori beat Canada's Peter Polansky 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 before Frank Dancevic leveled 6-4, 7-6(7/2), 6-1 win over Go Soeda. 4-hour battle in India Somdev Devvarman of India and Chen Ti of Taiwan were locked in a grueling battle of nerves before bad light halted play in the Davis Cup Asia/Ocenia group one tie in Indore. After Yuki Bhambri had won the opening singles for India, Devvarman and Chen were level 7-7 in the fifth set of the second match that has already lasted more than four hours at the Indore Tennis Stadium. The match will resume Saturday ahead of the doubles encounter with Devvarman to serve at 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 6-2, 7-7. In the opening singles, Bhambri survived an ankle injury in the third set to overcome Yang Tsung-Hua 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3 in two hours and 52 minutes. Seeds fall at Pattaya Three seeds fell at the Pattaya Open Friday, leaving Russian Ekaterina Makarova as the only seeded player to reach the semifinals after a three-set battle with Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm. Karolina Pliskova fought off two match points to defeat third seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 and reach her first semifinal in 11 months. Russian fifth seed Elena Vesnina was beaten 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 by Germany's Julia Goerges, and Chinese number eight seed Peng Shuai fell 6-2, 7-5 to Czech Andrea Hlavackova. Fourth-seeded Makarova ended the run of 43-year old Date-Krumm of Japan by winning their entertaining quarter-final 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. — Agencies
