Wimbledon doubles champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert had to fight hard to defeat Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to give France a 2-1 lead over the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup quarterfinals Saturday. A week after beating Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in straight sets to clinch the Wimbledon title, Mahut and Herbert needed five sets on the indoor hard court for a victory that puts France one win away from a Davis Cup semifinal. In the singles ties Friday, world No. 78 Lukas Rosol stunned 10th-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-4. Lucas Pouille, ranked 21st, then swept 50th-ranked Jiri Vesely 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 7-5 to level the tie. In Sunday's first reverse singles, Tsonga can clinch the best-of -five series with a victory over Vesely. In Belgrade, Dusan Lajovic breezed past James Ward 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 to bring Serbia level 1-1 with title holder Britain. The second singles could not be played on the opening day because of rain and was postponed until Saturday, when it also began an hour later than scheduled. Defending champion Great Britain took a 2-1 lead over host Serbia. In the second singles rubber, rescheduled from Friday due to heavy rain, Dusan Lajovic defeated James Ward 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 to pull the hosts level. But in Saturday's doubles Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot defeated Filip Krajinovic and Nenad Zimonjic 6-1, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4 to move Britain to within one win of the last four. Krajinovic replaced Janko Tipsarevic, who was easily defeated by Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in the first singles match Friday. In Pesaro, torrential rain delayed the start of the quarterfinal between Italy and Argentina by three hours. When they did get under way Federico Delbonis defeated veteran Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). The scheduled second singles rubber of the day between Fabio Fognini and Juan Monaco was pushed back to Saturday. In Portland, Oregon, 32-time Davis Cup champions United States seized a commanding 2-0 lead over Croatia. American Jack Sock got the hosts off to a rousing start as he stormed back from two sets down to defeat former US Open champion Marin Cilic 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The triumph for the 26th-ranked Sock over the world number 12 was followed by John Isner's 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Borna Coric. Having forced a decisive fifth set, Sock surrendered an early break that appeared to set Cilic on his way. But Sock broke back in the fifth game and again in the ninth, then saved two break points in the final game to seal the match after three hours and 13 minutes. Isner, meanwhile, needed just under two hours to finish off Coric, firing 23 aces and fending off all eight break points he faced. "We're up 2-0, we're in a good spot," Isner said. The formidable doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan will try to secure the win Saturday, when they are slated to take on Ivan Dodig and Marin Draganja. The Americans, ousted in the first round each of the last two years, haven't made it to the Davis Cup semi-finals since 2012, when they fell in Spain.
