• Davis Cup

Federer pulls Switzerland level following Wawrinka defeat

Roger Federer stamped his authority on the match in the third set © AP

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Roger Federer drew Switzerland level at 1-1 in their Davis Cup quarter-final clash against Kazakhstan following Stanislas Wawrinka's surprise defeat in the opening singles rubber.

Federer overcame Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4 6-4 6-2 after Wawrinka had been beaten 7-6(5) 6-2 3-6 by world No.64 Andrey Golubev.

"Now we've got to start all over again, that's what I told Stan. The weekend has only just started. There's no drama. That's how I saw it going into my singles match," Federer said on court after his win.

Australian Open champion Wawrinka was stunned by Golubev in a pulsating encounter.

Golubev held two match points in the 12th game of the fourth set, but Wawrinka saved them to force a tiebreak.

Golubev then had three more match points after taking a 6-2 lead in the tiebreak as Wawrinka attempted to take the game into a deciding set. However, at the sixth time of asking Golubev finished off his opponent to hand Kazakhstan a shock lead.

Wawrinka has only won five matches since winning his maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open, suffering surprises losses in the last 16 at Miami and Indian Wells as he carries the weight of being a major winner on his shoulders.

"For sure I'm really disappointed with myself. I have to give credit to Golubev," Wawrinka said. "He was playing really good. He was really aggressive and he found a way to win the match. I was expecting [him to make] more mistakes. I'm disappointed with the loss but I need to accept it and be ready for a long weekend."

Still smiling ! Thanks @rogerfederer !! pic.twitter.com/I71JebKVJi

— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) April 4, 2014

Back-to-back champions Czech Republic are in command of their tie against Japan after Radek Stepanek and Lukas Rosol both won their singles encounters. Stepanek defeated Tatsuma Ito by coming from a set down to win 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 6-1 7-5, while Rosol recovered from blowing a two-set lead to beat Taro Daniel 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-2.

Germany meanwhile opened up a 2-0 lead over France. Julien Benneteau lost the first match to Tobias Kamke, but the surprise came when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost an epic encounter 7-5 6-7(3) 6-3 7-6(8) 6-8 to Peter Gojowczyk, who has not won a match on the tour since the first week of January.

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