Internet Desk: Serbia is through to the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup and there is a great chance that two Grand Slam heavyweights Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal might face each other in the next tie. While defending champions Argentina is still in the hunt to qualify for the next round.
The 2010 Davis Cup champion Serbia, took an invincible lead of 3-0 over opponent Russia on Saturday in their World Group opener in Nis, as Veteran Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki beat the pair of Andrey Kuznetsov and Konstantin Kravchuk by 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4.
On Friday, Troicki beat Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (8/6) in the opening singles before Djokovic made it 2-0 when Daniil Medvedev retired with cramps in the fourth set allowing the 12-time major winner to claim a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 1-0 win.
“I have to congratulate Viktor for an excellent match after spending five hours on court Friday,” said Zimonjic, the Serbia captain.
“It was a massive challenge even though he’s one of the fittest players on tour.”
Djokovic could face Nadal in the last eight in April should five-time champions Spain see off Croatia in Osijek.
Nadal was sitting out the trip to Croatia after reaching the Australian Open final last weekend but would be certain to return to face a Djokovic-inspired Serbia.
However, Croatia were trying their best to ignore the script when they took a 2-1 lead over the Spaniards thanks to Marin Draganja and Nikola Mektic carving out a 6-7, (6/8), 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-4 win over Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, the French Open champions.
Croatia, playing without top star Marin Cilic, saw world number 223 Franko Skugor unexpectedly defeat 26th-ranked Pablo Carreno Busta on Friday before world number 16 Roberto Bautista Agut levelled the tie overnight by beating Davis Cup debutant Ante Pavic, the world number 486.
Meanwhile, Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer kept defending champions Argentina in their tie against Italy in Buenos Aires with a marathon 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (9/7) win over Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
That made the overall score 2-1 after Paolo Lorenzi and Andreas Seppi had won the opening day singles against an Argentina team missing Juan Martin del Potro and Federico Delbonis, the stars of their 2016 final triumph over Croatia.
On Saturday, Berlocq and Mayer needed six match points to secure their win.
Australia, the 28-time champions, completed a 3-0 drubbing of the Czech Republic in Melbourne when John Peers and Sam Groth breezed past Jiri Vesely and Jan Satral, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Australia, captained by Lleyton Hewitt, will now host the United States in the quarter-finals on April 7-9.
With inputs from PTI.