September 23, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 10, 1428

BELGRADE, Sept 22: Britain and Austria took a big step towards securing berths in the Davis Cup World Group next season after building commanding 2-0 leads against their respective playoff rivals on Friday.

Andy Murray edged Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and Tim Henman swept aside Roko Karanusic in straight sets to put Britain in the driving seat against Croatia at Wimbledon.

Croatia’s chances of staying in the top division were hit when their top player, world No. 12 Ivan Ljubicic, pulled out with an infection and his replacement Karanusic offered little resistance as he lost 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to Henman.

Juergen Melzer beat Thomaz Belucci 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and Stefan Koubek cruised past Ricardo Mello 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to give Austria the advantage against Brazil in Innsbruck.

Serbia and Australia were tied 1-1 in Belgrade after Novak Djokovic fired 16 aces to brush aside Peter Luczak in straight sets and Lleyton Hewitt redressed the balance with the 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 defeat of Janko Tipsarevic.

Israel took a 2-1 lead against Chile with Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram overpowering Fernando Gonzales and Nicolas Massu 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 in a thrilling doubles in Ramat Hasharon.

Slovakia were tied 1-1 with South Korea as were Czech Republic against Switzerland after Roger Federer beat Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 and Tomas Berdych struck back for the Czechs with a straight-set win over Stanislas Wawrinka.

Japan and Romania were also level at 1-1 in Osaka while Peru were leading Belarus 1-0 in Lima.

Davis Cup World Group play-off results on Friday:

Israel 2 Chile 1

Serbia 1 Australia 1

Austria 2 Brazil 0

Peru 1 Belarus 0

Great Britain 2 Croatia 0

Czech Republic 1 Switzerland 1

Japan 1 Romania 1

Slovakia 1 South Korea 1

Winners of the three-day, best of five ties qualify for the 2008 World Group first round.—Reuters