World number four Nikolay Davydenko returned to action on Saturday when he teamed up with Igor Andreev to give Russia a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup quarterfinal against the Czech Republic on Saturday. Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev had left out Davydenko from Friday's singles after he flew in late to Moscow following his triumph in Miami last weekend. Feeling fresh after enjoying a rest day, Davydenko joined forces with Andreev and the duo outfought the Czech team of Pavel Vizner and Radek Stepanek 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to give the hosts the psychological edge ahead of Sunday's reverse singles. The winner of the tie will face either Argentina or Sweden in the semifinals in September.Australia, India in playoffs Australia and India booked places in the playoffs for Davis Cup World Group 2009 by taking unbeatable 3-0 leads Saturday in their Asia-Oceania Group One second round ties. Australia - 23 times Davis Cup champion - swept past Thailand while India shut out Japan in a more closely fought series. Both nations progres to September's playoffs for places in next year's elite 16-nation World Group. Their yet-to-be-determined opponents will come from the losers of this year's first-round World Group ties. Former world's No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt teamed up with doubles specialist Paul Hanley for Australia, easily beating Thailand's second-string pairing of Weerapat Doakmaiklee and Kirati Siributwong 6-3, 6-1, 6-0. India's experienced pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, formerly the world's best doubles team, defeated Japan's Takao Suzuki and Satoshi Iwabuchi 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.US leads 2-0 Andy Roddick and James Blake gave the United States a 2-0 lead over France in their Davis Cup quarterfinal on Friday. Roddick appeared to be on a mission, firing 30 aces en route to a 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 win over Michael Llodra in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. James Blake extended the lead for the Americans, who were presented on Friday with championship rings by the US Tennis Association for winning last year's Davis Cup, when he beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the second rubber.Spain dominates Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer gave Spain a 2-0 lead over Germany in their quarterfinal tie in Bremen and the twice former champions now need to win only one of their three remaining matches to progress to a possible semifinal against the Americans. Nadal overcame jet-leg to beat Nicolas Kiefer 7-6, 6-0, 6-3, while German number one Philipp Kohlschreiber visibly tired during his 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Ferrer. Triple French Open champion Nadal, who has had trouble sleeping since flying in from Miami at the start of the week, made a sluggish start but edged an 88-minute first set 7-5 on the tiebreak and went on to win comfortably.Honors even Argentina captain Alberto Mancini's decision to play Jose Acasuso ahead of the higher-ranked Guillermo Canas and Juan Monaco backfired in Buenos Aires against Sweden. After David Nalbandian had given the hosts the lead with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over Thomas Johansson, Robin Soderling ensured honors were even when he thundered past Acasuso 6-0, 6-4, 6
