• Davis Cup

Nadal gets Spain off to a flier, Djokovic out of Serbia tie

Rafael Nadal wasted little time in beating Richard Gasquet © Getty Images

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Rafael Nadal showed no signs of fatigue as he shrugged off the challenge of Richard Gasquet to give Spain an early lead in their Davis Cup semi-final against France.

Just four days after his US Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic in New York, Nadal was back in his homeland as the four-time champions put one foot in the final with wins for Nadal and David Ferrer on the opening day in Cordoba.

Back on his favoured clay surface, Nadal wasted little time in seeing off the world No. 15, breaking Gasquet at the first time of asking and he never let the Frenchman back into the match as he strolled to a 6-3 6-0 6-1 victory.

France thrashed the 2009 champions 5-0 in last year's quarter-finals, but there was little chance of a repeat with the return of world No. 2 Nadal. It will be the French side, beaten finalists last year, who will fear a whitewash after Ferrer doubled the hosts' advantage.

The world No. 5 eased to a 6-1 6-4 6-1 victory over Gilles Simon, leaving Spain one win away from the final.

Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco will have the chance to secure Spain's progress on Saturday when they take on Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the doubles.

While Nadal appeared to have fully recovered from Monday's defeat, Djokovic was still feeling the effects of a gruelling four-set encounter in New York. Having flown to Belgrade for Serbia's semi-final clash against Argentina, the world No. 1 pulled out just hours before he was due on court with "lower back and rib pain".

Viktor Troicki stepped in to face David Nalbandian in the opener, with Nalbandian winning 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-3, while Juan Martin Del Potro doubled Argentina's lead by defeating Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 6-3 6-4.

In the World Group play-offs, Roger Federer beat old foe Lleyton Hewitt to claw Switzerland back into their tie with Australia. Federer battled from a set down to beat Hewitt 5-7 7-6(5) 6-2 6-3 after Bernard Tomic had given the hosts the lead with victory over Stanislas Wawrinka in Sydney. Federer and Wawrinka were beaten in the doubles by Hewitt and Chris Guccione to leave Australia 2-1 ahead.

Elsewhere, Japan are one win away from reaching the World Group for the first time since 1985 after wins for Kei Nishikori and Yuichi Sugita against Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman gave Japan a 2-0 lead against India.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.