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Almagro hands Spain first win

Nicolas Almagro laid the foundations for Spain's first win of the ARAG ATP World Team Championship. © Getty Images

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Nicolas Almagro overcame Lleyton Hewitt in little over an hour as Spain built an unassailable 2-0 lead over Australia at the ARAG ATP World Team Championship in Dusseldorf.

Almagro served five aces and secured four breaks of serve as he downed the former world No. 1 6-1 6-3 to give his country a 1-0 lead. Daniel Gimeno-Taver doubled that lead as he showed more signs of an improving clay-court game by beating Peter Luczak 6-3 6-2.

Sam Querrey gave the United States the advantage in their Red Group match against the Czech Republic. Querrey looked composed as he used his powerful serve cleverly to seal a 6-3 7-5 win over Jan Hajek.

In the Blue Group, France and Argentina are deadlocked at 1-1 heading into tomorrow's deciding doubles match. Jeremy Chardy put France ahead with a 6-3 6-4 win over Juan Monaco, but the impressive Eduardo Schwank levelled with a hardfought 3-6 6-3 6-2 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber put his country in control against Serbia with a 7-6(1) 6-4 defeat of Viktor Troicki. The world No. 35 backed up his first serve well throughout and sealed the first rubber with a string of accurate forehands down the line.

At the Open de Nice, Italy's Potito Starace continued his excellent run with a surprise win over No. 3 seed Gael Monfils. The world No. 63 showed impeccable timing on his groundstrokes and broke his French opponent on three separate occasions en route to a 7-6(2) 6-2 success. Monfils struggled to find a first serve when it mattered and will hope to sharpen up his all-round game ahead of the French Open.

Richard Gasquet will be Starace's opponent in the last four after he swept aside Olivier Rochus 6-4 6-2. Gasquet, who was once ranked No. 7 in the world, played some delightful attacking shots and offered his Belgian opponent, who knocked out Roger Soderling in the previous round, few chances as he sealed another impressive win on his return to full fitness.

Fernando Verdasco is one win away from reaching his 13th ATP World Tour final after fighting past Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2 6-7(5) 6-4. The second seed converted five of 11 break point opportunities during a competitive encounter and served seven aces as he denied his Ukrainian opponent three breaks.

Verdasco will meet Leonardo Mayer in the semis, after he beat No. 5 seed Marcos Baghdatis 5-7 6-3 6-4. The Argentine, who created an incredible 24 break point opportunities, battled back from losing the first set to claim his first win over a player ranked inside the top 30 in the world rankings in almost 12 months.

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