Croatia and Argentina reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, winning in doubles to take unassailable 3-0 leads over Chile and the Netherlands respectively. More than 6,000 demonstrators protested against Israel's presence in the competition in the Swedish city of Malmo, where players complained about the lack of atmosphere in a hall closed to the public by worried authorities. Seven-time champion Sweden took a 2-1 lead over Israel with doubles victory for Robert Lindstedt and Simon Aspelin over Andy Ram and Amir Hadad. Champion Spain was able to start its first-round tie in the seaside resort of Benidorm, where high winds had damaged the purpose-built stands and prevented play on Friday. On a long day by the Mediterranean, Spain went 2-1 up against Serbia when world number one Rafael Nadal lost just three games against Janko Tipsarevic and David Ferrer upset erratic world number three Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 7-6. Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic kept alive Serbia's hopes by beating Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez in straight sets in the doubles. Mario Ancic and Marin Cilic teamed up to beat Chile's Nicolas Massu and Paul Capdeville 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and put Croatia into July's world group quarterfinals, after singles wins for both men on Friday. Croatia will now play the United States or Switzerland. The US was leading 2-1 in Birmingham, Alabama. Last year's losing finalist Argentina was missing its three top players, with David Nalbandian ill and both Juan Martin del Potro and Jose Acasuso declining to take part, but its makeshift team sailed through against outsider the Netherlands in Buenos Aires. Lucas Arnold Ker and Martin Vassallo Arguello wrapped up victory on Saturday with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 doubles win over Jesse Huta Galung and Rogier Wassen to put Argentina in the quarterfinals for the eighth successive year. Its next opponents will be the Czech Republic or France. The experienced Czechs lead the higher-ranked French 2-1 going into Sunday's final day. Romania's unheralded pairing of teenager Marius Copil and Horia Tecau came back from two sets down to upset experienced Russians Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov in Sibiu, keeping the tie alive into the third day after two singles wins for Russia on Friday. Germany's tie against Austria will also be decided in Sunday's reverse singles with the host leading 2-1. In Nonthaburi, Thailand, Australia tightened the grip on the Asia-Oceania zone group one Davis Cup clash with Thailand Saturday, winning the doubles rubber to grab a 2-1 lead. In Auckland, New Zealand took an unbeatable 3-0 lead against Malaysia in the same group.
