• Davis Cup

France beat Germany to progress

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are a well oiled doubles machine © Getty Images

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France secured an unassailable 3-0 lead over Germany to progress to the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup.

Impressive singles displays from Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga handed Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra to complete the job and they did just that with a 6-1 6-4 1-6 7-5 win over German pair Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas.

The win was met with wild scenes of joy in Toulon, with the French players hoisting coach Guy Forget in the air.

"It was like a dream for me," Benneteau said of his first Davis Cup match. "It was a good match, we played well together and that was important."

Llordra said: "We started so well. At the beginning of the third we were a bit down and not aggressive, but we did well in the end."

Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo thrilled the home fans in Logrono as they claimed a 7-6(8) 6-2 4-6 6-4 win over Yves Allegro and Stanislas Wawrinka to hand Davis Cup holders Spain a 2-1 lead over Switzerland.

Bob Bryan and John Isner kept USA in the hunt for qualification as they claimed a 7-6(8) 5-7 7-6(8) 6-3 win over Serbia pair Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic and now trail 2-1 heading into the reverse singles.

India secured a foothold in their tie with Russia after claiming Saturday's doubles clash.

Russia raced into a 2-0 lead on Friday thanks to singles wins for Igor Kunitsyn and Mikhail Youzhny, but Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes are doubles players of some repute and demonstrated their skills at the Luzhniki Arena in Moscow.

Bhupathi and Paes have won 10 Grand Slam doubles titles between them and extended their run to 23 consecutive Davis Cup doubles wins.

Kunitsyn took to the court alongside Teimuraz Gabashvili but they were comprehensively outplayed during a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win for Bhupathi and Paes.

Russia are still strong favourites to progress but India have at least kept the tie alive for the reverse singles.

Argentina moved into a 2-1 lead over Sweden, as David Nalbandian and Horacio Zeballos claimed a 6-2 7-6(4) 7-6(5) win over Robert Lindstedt and Robin Soderling.

Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic wrapped up a 7-6(3) 6-3 7-5 win over Nicolas and Giovanni Lapentti to hand Croatia a winning 3-0 lead over Ecuador.

Czech Republic secured an unassailable 3-0 lead in their first-round clash with Belgium as Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek claimed a 7-6(0) 6-0 6-3 win over Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus.

Berdych and Stepanek, who were singles winners on Friday, were much too good after edging through a tie-break in the first set. The Czechs face the winners of the clash between Chile and Israel in the quarter-finals.

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