All ties still alive after doubles

All the Davis Cup World Group first-round ties are still alive heading into the final day's singles after the underdogs largely prevailed in some lengthy doubles clashes yesterday.

Romania remain in the hunt after Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau beat France's Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement 3-6 7-5 7-5 6-7 11-9 in four hours to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Chile also hit back to trail 2-1 against champions Russia with Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu, both defeated in Friday's singles rubbers, beating Marat Safin and Igor Andreev 7-6 6-3 6-4.

Earlier, Lleyton Hewitt found his form after losing on Friday as he partnered Paul Hanley to ease past Belgium's Olivier Rochus and Kristof Vliegen 6-2 6-4 6-2 to put Australia back in the tie at 2-1 down.

Austria and Belarus kept their hopes alive after halving their 2-0 deficits against Argentina and Sweden respectively.

Belarus duo Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov dispatched Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin 7-5 4-6 7-5 6-3 at Minsk's indoor soccer arena while Austria's Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle beat Jose Acasuso and Sebastian Prieto 6-3 6-7 6-1 7-5.

In matches that were level going into the doubles, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez beat Switzer-land's Marco Chiudinelli and Yves Allegro in another epic encounter to hand Spain a 2-1 lead after a 7-6 6-7 6-7 6-1 12-10 victory.

The battle of Geneva lasted four hours 48 minutes and the depleted Swiss face a daunting task today with reserve Stephane Bohli tackling world number 33 Verdasco in the opening singles.

The hosts are without the absent Roger Federer although the Spanish are missing Rafael Nadal.

Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske yesterday ended the perfect Davis Cup doubles record of Croatian pair Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic to give Germany a 2-1 lead over the 2005 champions thanks to a 6-4 6-2 7-6 win.

Bob and Mike Bryan, fresh from the successful defence of their Australian Open doubles title, swept past Czechs Pavel Vizner and Lukas Dlouhy in straight sets to nudge the US ahead.

The slow clay surface at Ostrava's packed 7,000-seat CEZ Arena failed to halt the Bryans as they secured a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory on a second match point.

The home team had thought about playing Tomas Berdych in the doubles but decided to let him rest ahead of today's first singles match against Andy Roddick.

Paris Open SFs

Lucie Safarova's brilliant run at the Paris Open continued when the Czech knocked out top seed Justine Henin 7-6 6-4 yesterday to reach the final where she will play Nadia Petrova. The Russian world number five recovered from a set down to snatch a 5-7 6-4 7-6 win over holder Amelie Mauresmo.