LONDON: Andy Roddick showed why he's the go-to guy to close out a Davis Cup series, leading the United States to a 3-1 win over Chile to set up a meeting with the Rafael Nadal-led Spaniards in the quarterfinals. Roddick defeated Paul Capdeville 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-3 to improve to 12-0 in matches that can clinch a Davis Cup matchup for the US John Isner finished with a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5 win over Guillermo Rivera-Aranguiz in the meaningless second reverse singles. The Americans will play at home from July 8-10 against Nadal and Spain, 4-1 winners over Belgium this weekend. In the other first-round World Group series Sunday, defending champion Serbia handled India 4-1, Argentina closed out a 4-1 victory over Romania, Russia salvaged two matches in a 3-2 defeat to Sweden, Germany beat Croatia 3-2 when Philipp Petzschner outlasted Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), France ousted Austria 3-2, and Andrey Golubev and Mikhail Kukushkin lifted Kazakhstan to a 3-2 upset of the Czech Republic. The victory was the first for new US Davis Cup captain Jim Courier, who played on the 1992 and 1995 winning Davis Cup squads. Nadal beat Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday to turn Spain's domination over Belgium into a 4-1 win After Nadal's second victory of the weekend, Steve Darcis won Belgium's only point, beating Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3). At home in Novi Sad, Serbia went past a stubborn India team to set up a meeting with Sweden. Playing without Novak Djokovic, Serbia won both reverse singles on Sunday, Viktor Troicki defeating Somdev Devvarman 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 and then Janko Tipsarevc defeated Karan Rastogi 6-0, 6-1. In Schwechat in Austria, Jeremy Chardy rallied to beat Martin Fischer 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-3 for France to beat the hosts. The 2010 finalist and nine-time champion will play Germany, which defeated Croatia 3-2. Chardy prevented France from a first loss in a Davis Cup series after being 2-0 up. Pavlyuchenkova bags title Second-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia defeated top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 Sunday to win her third WTA title and successfully defending the Monterrey Open championship she won a year ago. Jankovic was seeking her 13th WTA tournament title and got off to a good start. But the Serb had problems in the final set. Pavlyuchenkova broke Jankovic in the seventh game to lead 4-3. She then held serve and broke again in the final game – thanks partly to a double fault by Jankovic – to close out the match. Pavlyuchenkova has won both matches she's played against Jankovic.
