DAVIS CUP ROUNDUP

updated 11:59 a.m. ET April 7, 2007

Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson won Saturday’s doubles match to give Sweden a 3-0 lead over Argentina and a spot in the Davis Cup semifinals.

The Swedes rallied from a set down to beat Guillermo Canas and David Nalbandian 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3 on the fast indoor carpet at the Masshallen arena.

Sweden, which won both opening singles Friday, will play either the United States or Spain in the semifinals in September. The United States leads 2-0 after winning the first two singles.

Both teams made late changes for the doubles.

Johansson, who beat Nalbandian in the opening singles, replaced rookie Robert Lindstedt on the Swedish team.

Guillermo Canas, who beat top-ranked Roger Federer in consecutive ATP tournaments last month, replaced Sebastian Prieto. Canas was not picked for the singles by Argentina captain Alberto Mancini because of a sore left thigh. He appeared to be bothered by the injury at times during the match.

Argentina was a finalist last year after opening with a 5-0 rout of Sweden on clay in Buenos Aires.

Doubles win seals Germany’s berth in semis
Germany beat Belgium in doubles Saturday and qualified for the Davis Cup semifinals with an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

Alexander Waske and Michael Kohlmann beat Olivier and Christophe Rochus 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, to lead Germany to its first Davis Cup semifinal in 12 years.

Because of Saturday’s victory, the reverse singles Sunday won’t alter the overall result.

Unlike Germany’s glory days almost two decades ago, when Boris Becker and Michael Stich clinched three Davis Cup trophies, the burden is on Tommy Haas, the world’s 10th-ranked player, and an allotment of journeymen.

On Friday, Haas rallied to beat an injured Kristof Vliegen 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 on the slow clay to give Germany a 1-0 lead. Philipp Kohlschreiber, ranked 60th, defeated Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Russia takes 2-1 lead over France
Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev gave Russia a 2-1 lead over France in the Davis Cup quarterfinals Saturday by winning their doubles match.

They defeated Sebastien Grosjean and Michael Llodra 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

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France, which had not lost a doubles match to Russia since 1973 in six previous Davis Cup matches, was broken in the eighth game of the fifth set when Grosjean sent a forehand return wide. Andreev then served out the match at love.

The best-of-five series will be decided Sunday in the reverse singles matches when Davydenko faces Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny takes on Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev replaced Marat Safin with Davydenko for the doubles match, while France captain Guy Forget picked Grosjean, who amassed a 15-9 Davis Cup record in singles but never played doubles for France.

On Friday, Mathieu beat Davydenko to give France the early lead before Youzhny beat Gasquet.

The Russians haven’t loss to France since 1983, and defeated them in the 2002 final for their first Davis Cup title. They are hoping to become the first defending champions to reach the semifinals since 2001 champion France reached the last four the following year.

The winner will face Germany in the semifinals in September.

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