Australia, Russia Look to Clinch in Davis Cup Doubles

Australia leads Belarus 2-0

The Belarus side talked smack entering the tie, then got smacked down Friday in the opening singles when Aussie rookie Chris Guccione shocked Max "The Beast" Minyi 6-4 in the fifth, and stalwart Lleyton Hewitt rolled over Vladimir "The Vladiator" Voltchkov 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in their first-ever meeting.

"He pretty much played as well as he can," Voltchkov said of Hewitt. "I think it was just difficult today it was like hitting against a wall and from a child I knew you would never beat the wall. He was everywhere I hit the ball and he only had six unforced errors in 90 minutes, that's not bad."

Belarus will attempt to get on the board Saturday when the Beast/Vladiator square off against the Aussie doubles specialist squad of Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley.

Croatia tied with Argentina 1-1

The illin' Croatians come out of Friday with a 1-1 tie, probably better than they expected with Ivan Ljubicic suffering from stomach problems, and Mario Ancic pulling from the singles with a bad back.

In the opening singles Ljubicic staged a gutty comeback against Agustin Calleri from two sets down, shocking the Argentine 6-7(7), 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-1, 6-2 in a four-hour tussle. Argentina then quickly evened it at 1-1, with 17-year-old Croat stand-in Marin Cilic trounced by David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

Scheduled for the Saturday doubles are Ljubicic/Ancic vs. Calleri/Nalbandian.

"It's difficult, almost impossible to talk numbers," Ljubicic told reporters of Ancic's chances of playing the doubles. "Really it's up to Ancic, he must decide and say how he feels. We will wait as late as we can on Saturday, and that means one hour before the match, but at this moment Mario's chances are slim."

Russia leads France 2-0

Marat Safin crushes the spirit of French upstart Richard Gasquet 6-1 in the fifth, and Nikolay Davydenko comes back from a set down to beat Arnaud Clement in four to give Russia the 2-0 lead.

"I've never had a cramping problem like that," said Davydenko, who at the beginning of the fourth-set tiebreak took a medical timeout. "I knew my last chance to win the match was in that tiebreak. If he had won the fourth set, I would have had to retire in the fifth."

Russia's Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny will try and cap it in the Saturday doubles against Clement and Michael Llodra.

U.S. tied with Chile 1-1

Leading two sets to love after a bagel set, then up 4-1 in the fifth, American James Blake's five-set match record caught up with him Friday as he found a way to lose in the U.S.'s Davis Cup opener 6-7(5), 0-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 10-8 to Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.

"The key of the match was to keep fighting," Gonzalez said. "This is Davis Cup and you give anything you have to fight. You have to try to give your best until the end of the match."

The loss dropped Blake to 0-7 career in five-set matches.

In the second match Andy Roddick promptly evened the tie with a 6-3, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) win over Nicolas Massu.

The Saturday doubles will determine who enters Sunday with the advantage when the Bryan brothers face Gonzalez/Massu.