Nadal puts Spain in charge

Rafael Nadal shrugged off fears over his fitness with a brutally one-sided 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 win over Janko Tipsarevic to put holders Spain on the verge of the Davis Cup quarter-finals yesterday.

The world number one's victory gave Spain a 2-0 lead over Serbia in their World Group first round tie after David Ferrer had pulled off a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) win over world number three Novak Djokovic.

However, Serbia then stayed alive in the tie when Viktor Troicki, replacing Djokovic, teamed with doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic to beat Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 7-6 (9/7).

The prize for the winner of this tie will be a July quarter-final with either Germany or Austria. The Germans were 2-1 ahead in their clash in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Spain and Serbia had to wait 24 hours to get the tie underway as play was delayed by a day after high winds had damaged the purpose-built Parque Tematico arena on Friday.

Australian Open champion Nadal, playing for the first time since a worrying knee injury picked up in Rotterdam last month, was in total control against Tipsarevic with the Spaniard winning 11 games on the run from 1-1 in the first set.

"On clay, Rafa is at another level compared to the rest," Tipsarevic said after his 95-minute defeat.

"On hard court I wouldn't say the same, he can still lose to the top players, but on clay, he is a level above all the other top players and I'm not the only one who says that.

"But I'm not happy with my performance. Of course it's no embarrassment to lose to Nadal on clay, but I think I could have played a lot better than that."

Nadal lapped up playing on clay and in front of a home crowd.

"The atmosphere was great, the court was full, and it's an amazing feeling when we play at home with this kind of atmosphere," said Nadal, a champion in 2004 but who missed the Davis Cup final in 2008 when Spain defeated Argentina in Mar del Plata.

Earlier, Djokovic looked rusty which was not surprising since it was his first claycourt appearance since losing to Nadal at the French Open semi-finals in June last year.

He was so demoralised that he pulled out of the doubles in favour of Troicki.

Anti-Israel protest

Meanwhile, Anti-Israeli protesters clashed with riot police outside the Israeli-Swedish Davis Cup match in Malmo yesterday, but did not break through police lines.

Due to security concerns, the three-day match is being played in an empty stadium in the southwestern port city, which has a large immigrant population.

Several hundred left-wing militants carrying banners saying "Turn left, smash right," and "Boycott Israel" joined a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration by about 6,000 people. About 200 of the militants began pelting police with stones, fireworks and paint bombs, Reuters witnesses said.

World Group, first round

Argentina vs Netherlands 3-0; Czech Rep. vs France 2-1; US vs Switzerland 1-1; Croatia vs Chile 3-0; Sweden vs Israel 2-1; Romania vs Russia 1-2; Germany vs Austria 2-1; Spain vs Serbia 2-1.