No Djokovic, no problem as Serbia eye Spain’s title

Serbia shrugged off the absence of Novak Djokovic to reach the Davis Cup last eight yesterday with the 2010 champions confidently setting their sights on dethroning Spain in November’s final.

Janko Tipsarevic secured an unassailable 3-1 lead over Sweden in the World Group first round tie in Nis with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win over Michael Ryderstedt.

Victory gave Serbia a quarter-final tie in April against the Czech Republic, but captain Bogdan Obradovic believes that with world number one Djokovic back in the side for that clash, his country can start dreaming of a second title.

“It’s never easy to play matches in which you are the odds-on favourite but the players dealt with the pressure really well against Sweden,” Obradovic told www.daviscup.com.

“With a bit of luck, we will reach this year’s final and hopefully take on Spain because we are confident that we can beat them on home soil.”

The United States, the 32-time champions, completed a 5-0 whitewash over Switzerland in Fribourg.

Ryan Harrison beat Michael Lammer 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (7/4) and John Isner, who condemned Roger Federer to his first defeat in the tournament in nine years on Friday, saw off Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-4.

The US will face either France or Canada in the last eight. France were 2-1 ahead of the Canadians in Vancouver after Saturday’s doubles.

Austria made the quarter-finals for the first time in 17 years with a 3-2 win over two-time champions Russia in Wiener Neustadt.

Jurgen Melzer secured the vital point, beating debutant Alex Bogomolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.

Spain had already made sure of a place in the quarter-finals by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead on Saturday against Kazakhstan in Oviedo.

Yesterday, they completed a 5-0 rout with singles wins for Nicolas Almagro and Marcel Granollers.

The Czech Republic wrapped up a 4-1 win over Italy in Ostrava while Argentina were also 4-1 winners over Germany in Bamberg.

Argentina will have a home tie against Croatia, who beat Japan 3-2.

Quarter-Final draw
Czech Republic vs Serbia; France/Canada vs US; Argentina vs Croatia; Spain vs Austria.