February 12, 2007	Monday	Muharram 23, 1428

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LONDON, Feb 11: All the Davis Cup world group first-round ties are still alive heading into the final day's singles after the underdogs largely prevailed in some lengthy doubles clashes on Saturday.

Romania remain in the hunt after Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau beat France's Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 11-9 in four hours 35 minutes to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Chile also hit back to trail 2-1 against champions Russia with Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu, both defeated in Friday's singles rubbers, beating Marat Safin and Igor Andreev 7-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Earlier, world No 18 Lleyton Hewitt found his form after losing on Friday as he partnered Paul Hanley to ease past Belgium's Olivier Rochus and Kristof Vliegen 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 to put Australia back in the tie at 2-1 down.

Austria and Belarus kept their hopes alive after halving their 2-0 deficits against Argentina and Sweden respectively.

Belarus duo Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov dispatched Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 at Minsk's indoor soccer arena while Austria's Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle beat Jose Acasuso and Sebastian Prieto 6-3, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5.

In matches that were level going into the doubles, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez beat Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli and Yves Allegro in another epic encounter to hand Spain a 2-1 lead after a 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-1, 12-10 victory.

The battle of Geneva lasted four hours 48 minutes and the depleted Swiss face a daunting task on Sunday with reserve Stephane Bohli tackling world No 33 Verdasco in the opening singles.

The 23-year-old Bohli, ranked 278th in the world, was drafted in when Stanislas Wawrinka tore knee ligaments in training on Thursday.

The hosts are also without the absent Roger Federer although the Spanish are missing Rafael Nadal, with the world number two taking no part in the tie after pulling out with a thigh muscle injury shortly before Friday's opening rubber.

Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske earlier ended the perfect Davis Cup doubles record of Croatian pair Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic to give Germany a 2-1 lead over the 2005 champions thanks to a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 win.

Ljubicic and Ancic had won all six of their previous Davis Cup doubles matches together but they could not cope with the German specialists, who were surprisingly dominant at home.

In contrast Bob and Mike Bryan, fresh from the successful defence of their Australian Open doubles title, swept past Czechs Pavel Vizner and Lukas Dlouhy in straight sets to nudge the United States ahead.

The slow clay surface at Ostrava's packed 7,000-seat CEZ Arena failed to halt the Bryans as they secured a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory on a second match point.

Results:

World Group:

Chile 1 Russia 2 (Fernando Gonzalez/Nicolas Massu (CHI) bt Marat Safin/Igor Andreev (RUS) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-4; Marat Safin (RUS) bt Nicola Massu (CHI) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Igor Andreev (RUS) bt Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2).

France 2 Romania 1 (Florent Mergea/Horia Tecau (ROM) bt Arnaud Clement/Mickael Llodra (FRA) 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 11-9; Richard Gasquet (FRA) bt Victor Hanescu (ROM) 7-5, 6-2, 6-2; Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) bt Andrei Pavel (ROM) 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2).

Germany 2 Croatia 1 (Alexander Waske/Michael Kohlmann (GER) bt Mario Ancic/Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Thomas Haas (GER) bt Mario Ancic (CRO) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) bt Benjamin Becker (GER) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3).

Belgium 2 Australia 1 (Lleyton Hewitt/Paul Hanley (AUS) bt Kristof Vliegen-Olivier Rochus (BEL) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; Kristof Vliegen (BEL) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Olivier Rochus (BEL) bt Chris Guccione (AUS) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3).

Czech Republic 1 US 2 (Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (US) bt Pavel Vizner/Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt James Blake (US) 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Andy Roddick (US) bt Ivo Minar (CZE) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3).

Switzerland 1 Spain 2 (Feliciano Lopez/Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Yves Allegro/Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 12-10; Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2); David Ferrer (ESP) bt Stephane Bohli (SUI) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2).

Belarus 1 Sweden 2 (Max Mirnyi/Vladimir Voltchkov (BLR) bt Jonas Bjorkman/Simon Aspelin (SWE) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Thomas Johansson (SWE) bt Max Mirnyi (BLR) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Robin Soderling (SWE) bt Vladimir Voltchkov (BLR) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1).

Austria 1 Argentina 2 (Jurgen Melzer/Julian Knowle (AUT) bt Sebastian Prieto/Jose Acasuso (ARG) 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 7-5; Jose Acasuso (ARG) bt Stefan Koubek 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 6-4; Guillermo Canas (ARG) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 6-4).

Americas Zone Group 1:

Peru 3 Venezuela 0 (Ivan Miranda/Matias Silva (PER) bt David Navarrete/Johny Romero (VEN) 6-3, 6-3, 1-6, 6-7 (1-7), 6-4; Luis Horna (PER) bt Jhonnathan Medina (VEN) 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Ivan Miranda (PER) bt Johny Romero (VEN) 6-1, 6-2, 6-1).

Canada 3 Colombia 0 (Daniel Nestor/Frederic Niemeyer (CAN) bt Alejandro Falla/Carlos Salamanca (COL) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-3; Frank Dancevic (CAN) bt Santiago Giraldo (COL) 6-2, 6-4, 6-3; Frederic Niemeyer (CAN) bt Allejandro Falla (COL) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3).Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1:

Taiwan 2 Thailand 1 (Chen Ti/Yi Chu-huan (TPE) bt Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; Danai Udomchoke (THA) bt Lee Hsin-han (TPE) 6-1, 6-1, 6-2; Chen Ti (TPE) bt Weerapat Doakmaiklee (THA) 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (10-12) , 6-1, 6-3).

China 0 Japan 3 (Satoshi Iwabuchi/Takao Suzuki (JPN) bt Xin-Yuan Yu/Shao Xuan Zeng (CHN) 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1; Yuichi Sugita (JPN) bt Xin-Yuan Yu (CHN) 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-4; Go Soeda (JPN) bt Peng Sun (CHN) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7).

Uzbekistan 1 India 2 (Leander Paes/Sunil-Kumar Sipaeya (IND) bt Farrukh Dustov/Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3; Denis Istomin (UZB) bt Vivek Shokeen (IND) 6-1, 6-3, 6-3; Farrukh Dustov (UZB) bt Karan Rastogi (IND) 6-3, 6-3, 6-4).

South Korea 3 Kazakhstan 0 (Jun Woong-Sun/Lee Hyung-Taik (KOR) bt Alexey Kedriouk/Dmitri Makeev (KAZ) 6-1, 7-5, 6-2; Jun Woong-Sun (KOR) bt Alexey Kedriouk (KAZ) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; Lee Hyung-Taik (KOR) bt Syrym Abdukhalikov (KAZ) 6-2, 6-2, 6-2).

Europe/Africa zone Group 1:

Israel 3 Luxembourg 0 (Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (ISR) bt Laurent Bram/Mike Scheidweiler (LUX) 7-6 (7-5), 6-0, 6-3; Noam Okun (ISR) bt Gilles Kremer (LUX) 6-0, 6-0, 6-1; Dudi Sela (ISR) bt Gilles Muller (LUX) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1).

Georgia 3 Portugal 0 (Lado Chikhladze/Irakli Labadze (GEO) bt Gastao Elias/Federico Gil (POR) 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-3; Irakli Labadze (GEO) bt Rui Machado (POR) 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Lado Chikhladze (GEO) bt Federico Gil (POR) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4).—Agencies