• Davis Cup

Serbia sink Sweden to seal semi-final spot

Janko Tipsarevic did the business for Serbia © Getty Images

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Janko Tipsarevic was the hero for Serbia as the defending champions booked their place in the Davis Cup semi-finals with a 4-1 victory over Sweden.

With newly crowned world No. 1 Novak Djokovic suffering defeat in the doubles on Saturday, Tipsarevic, the Serbian No. 3, beat world No. 297 Michael Ryderstedt in straight sets.

Davis Cup debutant Ryderstedt was forced to shoulder the pressure of keeping the home nation's hopes alive, with only victory enough to force the tie to a deciding fifth rubber, but Tipsarevic was too strong as he overpowered the Swede 6-2 7-5 6-3.

It was the sixth time Tipsarevic had won the deciding rubber for Serbia, securing a home semi-final against Argentina in September. Viktor Troicki then put the icing on the cake when he was gifted a dead final rubber after Robert Lindstedt retired at the end of the second set. Lindstedt had won the first set, but Troicki pegged him back to 3-6 6-4 when the Swede offered his hand.

Spain have also progressed to the semi-finals after defeating the USA 3-1 in their tie thanks to David Ferrer overcoming Mardy Fish 7-5 7-6(3) 5-7 7-6(5) in a hard-fought match on day three.

The Spaniard certainly did it the hard way, though, after being broken while serving for the match in the fourth set. However, Ferrer regrouped in the tie-break to send Spain into the semi-finals despite the absence of world No. 2 Rafael Nadal.

Following Ferrer's win, Andy Roddick and Feliciano Lopez had their dead rubber cancelled in what would have been a replay of their third round Wimbledon match.

Meanwhile in Stuttgart, Germany avoided a humiliating whitewash against last year's finalists France, who will take on Spain in the final four. With Guy Forget's men having already secured their place in the semi-finals with victory in Saturday's doubles, Philipp Petzschner restored some German pride with a 6-3 6-4 win over Michael Llodra, but Jo-Wilfried Tsonga underlined the French dominance with a 7-6(3) 7-6(5) win over Philipp Kohlschreiber.

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