Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s unexpected partnership in the doubles allowed France to gain an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Australia yesterday and join Switzerland and Germany in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup.

France captain Arnaud Clement sprung a surprise when he picked Gasquet and Tsonga ahead of doubles specialist Julien Benneteau for the third rubber but the gamble paid off as the French duo beat Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione 5-7 7-6 6-2 7-5.

The result allowed France to wrap up the World Group first round tie with a day to spare and they will face Germany in the last eight in April after Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber edged past Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and David Marrero 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-3 in the doubles to go 3-0 up.

Spain paid the price for turning up in Frankfurt without Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer and it was a similar story in Novi Sad, where a second-string Serbian team were swept aside 3-0 by Switzerland.

A day after putting Switzerland 2-0 ahead, a cheering Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka leapt to their feet in celebration as Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer beat Filip Krajinovic and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6 3-6 7-6 6-2.

The result put Switzerland into the last eight for the first time in 10 years.

It completed a miserable weekend for the Serbs, who were runners-up to the Czech Republic only two months ago but now face a battle to preserve their status in a play-off tie later this year after Novak Djokovic opted to skip the tie.

The United States’ 2014 title hopes could also end this weekend after world number 175 James Ward pulled off a shock singles win over Sam Querrey on day one to give Britain an unexpected 2-0 lead on the red clay in San Diego.

However, Mike and Bob Bryan were last night expected to beat Andy Murray and Colin Fleming to ensure the US, winners of a record 32 titles, do not perish inside two days.

Champions the Czech Republic need to win only one of today’s reverse singles after Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek gave them a 2-1 lead with a 7-5 1-6 7-6 7-6 win over Dutchmen Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer.

Belgium, trailing 2-0 after the singles, made sure their tie against Kazakhstan would be alive on the final day after Olivier Rochus and Ruben Bemelmans secured a four-set win over Mikhail Kukushkin and Evgeny Korolev.

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