Aussies Blank Belarus in Davis Cup

Australia d. Belarus 5-0

The home Aussies sweep Belarus Saturday when doubles specialists Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley outlast Max "The Beast" Mirnyi and Vladimir "The Vladiator" Voltchkov 3-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in almost four hours, then win the remaining singles.

It was the second five-set loss of the tie for Belarus after Mirnyi was edged Friday by Aussie rookie Chris "Penthouse" Guccione.

"Sometimes these Davis Cup doubles are on a knife's edge, especially when it's a 1-1 scenario, it shows how pivotal they are, but this was a good effort, tough players those two guys," Aussie captain John Fitzgerald told reporters. "You've got Max ranked three in the world (in doubles) and the other guy's a hell of a hitter of the ball. These are not easy to win. That was a very good performance."

In the dead-rubber singles Wayne Arthurs beat Serguei Tarasevitch 7-6(6), 6-2, and Chris Guccione beat Alexandr Zotov 6-1, 6-3.

If the Aussies face Croatia in the next round they will host the tie, but if Argentina wins they will be playing away on clay and come in as substantial underdogs.

Argentina leads Croatia 2-1

Mario Ancic's bad back kept him out of the doubles Saturday, putting the Gauchos up 2-1 in the tie as David Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso defeated Ivan Ljubicic and Croat rookie teen Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

"It would have been extremely difficult had Ancic played," Nalbandian told reporters. "Marin Cilic is a talented player but made many mistakes at the beginning of the match."

The Croat player/captain Ljubicic says things look grim for winning both the Sunday singles without Ancic.

"On Thursday I said we need a miracle," Ljubicic told reporters, referring to the day when he was suffering stomach problems and Ancic was dealing with the back injury. "Now I say, we need one surprise, one big, big surprise. This morning Mario looked more positive, but for him to play on Sunday, if the fifth rubber will be a decider, he must be 100 percent fit. We hope, but it's a long shot. We certainly want Mario to play, before even thinking about Cilic or Sasa Tuksar."

On Sunday Nalbandian takes on Ljubicic, then Agustin Calleri is scheduled to face Ancic.

Russia Leads France 2-1

France got on the board Saturday when the experienced doubles team of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra outlasted Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3, 6-7(3), 5-7, 6-2 to the delight of the home crowd.

It was the fifth Cup teaming for Clement/Llodra, while the Russians staged an impressive comeback from two sets down as a first-time team.

Now that France's Sebastien Grosjean is reported healthy, captain Guy Forget has to decide where to use him Sunday, in either the first match against Nikolay Davydenko or, if it comes to it, in the deciding fifth match against Marat Safin. Richard Gasquet and Arnaud Clement will fill in the gap for France, with scheduling making all the difference on Sunday.

U.S. leads Chile 2-1

In a decision the Chileans will have to wait 24 hours to see if it bears fruit, Chile's captain Hans Gildemeister tanked the Saturday doubles against the U.S., benching Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu and inserting Paul Capdeville and Adrian Garcia who lost to the American Bryan brothers 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in almost under an hour.

Andy Roddick can clinch the tie Sunday against Gonzalez, with James Blake and Massu scheduled for the fifth rubber.

Gildemeister gambled that his boys could win both the Sunday singles.

"Andy is not playing his best tennis," Gildemeister told reporters. "Fernando has improved very much. I think he played yesterday the best match of the year. I think he has confidence against Andy tomorrow. I think the tie is still open...Fernando can do some damage. In the fifth [match], anything can happen. Nicolas [Massu], he's special for that. I don't know about how [James] Blake is going to react playing the fifth match."