Austria stay alive

Austria kept alive their slim hopes of reaching a first Davis Cup semi-final since 1990 when Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya captured the doubles rubber in the quarter-final with holders Spain yesterday.

The Austrian team defeated Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (14/12), clinching victory on their fifth match point.

Five-time champions Spain, playing without the injured Rafael Nadal, had cruised into a 2-0 overnight lead on Friday when Nicolas Almagro beat Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 and David Ferrer brushed aside Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

Peya and Marach were the slight favourites going into yesterday’s rubber having won two titles together while Granollers and Lopez had only played once as a team in the Davis Cup.

The tie will be settled today when Melzer takes on Ferrer while Almagro faces Haider-Maurer in the reverse singles.

Victory in the tie would extend Spain’s winning record at home to 23 matches, a run stretching back to 1999 when they lost to Brazil. That defeat was also Spain’s last on a clay court in the competition.

In Monte Carlo, brothers Bob and Mike Bryan made it 10 wins in 10 Davis Cup trips to give the United States, the record 32-time champions, a crucial 2-1 edge in their quarter-final against France.

The Bryans cruised past Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) to hand John Isner the opportunity today to wrap up the tie when the giant American takes on French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first reverse singles.

The winner of the quarter-final will meet either Spain or Austria in September’s semi-finals.

In Prague, the Czech Republic took a 2-1 lead over Serbia, who are without world number one Novak Djokovic, in their quarter-final after Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych breezed past Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

Stepanek and Berdych won the 10th of their 11 Davis Cup doubles rubbers together, dominating the first two sets and coming back from 0-3 in the third set.

The winners of this match-up will meet either Argentina or Croatia.