AUSTRALIA 3, CZECH REPUBLIC 0
Venue: Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, Melbourne, AUS (hard - outdoor)
Australia has taken an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Czech Republic following Saturday's doubles victory for Sam Groth and John Peers. The Aussie duo defeated Jan Satral and Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 30 minutes, firing 11 aces.
The 28-time champion Aussie squad has not dropped a set through three matches, including singles routs by Jordan Thompson and Nick Kyrgios on Friday. Played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club, former venue of the Australian Open, Groth and Peers powered their nation into its second World Group quarter-final in three years. They will face either Switzerland or the United States next.
"It feels like I'm in a dream to be honest," said Peers, who is coming off a title run at the Australian Open with Henri Kontinen. "Hopefully when I wake up I'm just pinching myself to believe what has happened the past few weeks."
"We came up to do a job and I thought we played great today," said Groth. "I played as good a match as I've played all year."
JAPAN 0, FRANCE 3
Venue: Ariake Colosseum, Tokyo, JPN (hard - indoor)
France's streak lives, as Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut sent Les Bleus into the Davis Cup quarter-finals for an eighth consecutive year, turning aside Yuichi Sugita, Yasutaka Uchiyama and Japan 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The victory gives the visiting nation an unassailable 3-0 win at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo.
Herbert and Mahut, the top players in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, converted four of five break chances while saving eight of nine faced during the one-hour and 46-minute affair. Nine-time champion France will face either Canada or Great Britain next.
"Davis Cup matches are never easy, but we won in straight sets," said Mahut. "It was not our best match, but we're happy to get through in three. We are very happy to get this point for France."
ARGENTINA 1, ITALY 2
Venue: Parque Sarmiento, Buenos Aires, Argentina (clay)
Defending champion Argentina staved off elimination in dramatic fashion, as Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer saved one match point to overcome Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6(7). Bolelli and Fognini nearly completed a miraculous two-set comeback, turning aside a match point at 6-5 in the decider and four more in the ensuing tie-break, before succumbing after four hours and eight minutes.
Berlocq and Mayer improved to 3-0 as a tandem in Davis Cup play, having previously claimed victories in the 2015 quarter-finals and semi-finals. The Italians, champions at the 2015 Australian Open, were riding a three-match win streak in the team competition.
The first-round tie is a rematch of a 2016 quarter-final clash, which saw the Argentines advance 3-1. They are hoping to avoid becoming the second Davis Cup champion in the last three years (Switzerland, 2015) to bow out in the first round the following year.
CROATIA 2, SPAIN 1
Venue: Gradski Vrt Hall, Osijek, Croatia (hard - indoor)
Croatia is one step from eliminating longtime Davis Cup powerhouse Spain after Nikola Mektic and Marin Draganja claimed a five-set win over 2016 ATP Finals contenders Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez 6-7(6), 7-6(7), 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4.
Without the services of Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic and Borna Coric, last year's runners-up Croatia will turn to Franko Skugor in Sunday's reverse singles against Roberto Bautista Agut. They had returned to the quarter-finals for the first time in four years in 2016, while Spain is looking to remain in the World Group after being relegated to Group I two years ago.
"We were definitely not playing that well for the first two sets," said Mektic. "They also raised their game afterwards. But the way we played in the fifth set we definitely deserved it. And the court suited us, we were playing the best on it."