Russia beat Serbia in the Davis Cup when an unwell Novak Djokovic retired from his match against Nikolay Davydenko, handing the home team an unassailable 3-1 lead in their first-round tie yesterday.

The 2006 champions and last year's runners-up, will host the Czech Republic, who beat Belgium 3-2, in the quarter-finals in April.

Australian Open champion Djokovic had won the first two sets against Davydenko and was 3-0 up in the third despite being way below his best and often struggling for breath after suffering from flu symptoms in the last few days. However, Davydenko staged a miraculous recovery to win the third set 6-4, after which the Serbian decided to quit.

Serbia's Davis Cup debutant Viktor Troicki, ranked 114th, beat substitute Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 4-6 6-3 in the dead last rubber to make the final score 3-2.

In Tel Aviv, doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman beat Israel's Harel Levy in four sets yesterday to give Sweden a 3-2 win in their Davis Cup world group first-round tie.

The 35-year-old Swede came back from losing the first set 0-6 to win the next three 6-4 6-3 7-6 in the final singles.

World Group results

Russia vs Serbia 3-2; Czech Rep. vs Belgium 3-2; Argentina vs Great Britain 4-1; Israel vs Sweden 2-3; Germany vs S. Korea 3-2; Romania vs France 0-5; Austria vs US 1-4; Peru vs Spain 0-4.

QF draw (April 11-13): Russia vs Czech Rep.; Argentina vs Sweden; Germany vs Spain; US vs France.

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