LONDON, April 8: Russia and Australia took command of their Davis Cup quarterfinals but holders Croatia had to be content with a share of the opening singles rubbers on Friday. Wins for Marat Safin and Nikolay Davydenko gave Russia a 2-0 lead over France in Pau. Australia also seized control of their tie with Belarus when Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione won their singles matches in Melbourne.

In Zagreb, Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic came back from two sets and 4-1 down in the third set tiebreak to beat Argentine Agustin Calleri in five sets. David Nalbandian, though, redressed the balance by thrashing Croatian teenager Marin Cilic.

The U.S. and Chile were locked at 1-1 in California.

Fernando Gonzalez gave Chile 1-0 lead with a 6-7 0-6 7-6 6-4 10-8 win over James Blake before Andy Roddick levelled the tie by beating Nicolas Massu 6-3 7-6 7-6.

In Pau, French Richard Gasquet ran out of steam against Safin who won 7-6 4-6 6-3 6-7 6-1. Davydenko recovered to beat Arnaud Clement 3-6 6-2 6-4 7-6.

At Kooyong, Hewitt demolished Vladimir Voltchkov 6-2 6-1 6-2 to give the hosts a commanding 2-0 lead after Guccione had upset Max Mirnyi 7-6 3-6 7-5 3-6 6-4 in a see-saw match that lasted nearly four hours.—Agencies