Austria kept its Davis Cup campaign alive with a hard-fought doubles victory over Spain Saturday, reducing the defending champions' lead to 2-1 in the quarterfinals. Alexander Peya and Oliver Marach overcame a shaky start following a rain delay to beat Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (12) on the Marina d'Or clay court. After squandering four match points, Peya hit a winner at the net to end the match at just over three-and-a-half hours. The decisive reverse singles will be Sunday. Five-time champions Spain, playing without Rafael Nadal, will again look to David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro, who brushed aside Jurgen Melzer and Andreas Haider-Maurer in Friday's opening singles. Spain hasn't lost at home since 1999 and is seeking its 23rd straight home win. Austria, in the quarterfinals for the first time in 17 years, is trying to make just its second semifinal. In Paris, brothers Bob and Mike Bryan made it 10 wins in 10 Davis Cup trips to give the United States, the record 32-time champion, a crucial 2-1 edge in their quarterfinal against France in Monte Carlo Saturday. The Bryans cruised past Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to hand John Isner the opportunity Sunday to wrap up the tie when the giant American takes on French No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first reverse singles. If Tsonga levels the tie Sunday, then Simon will tackle Harrison in the decider. The winner of the quarterfinal will meet either defending champion Spain or Austria in September's semifinals. In Prague, the Czech Republic took a 2-1 lead over Serbia, which is without world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, in their quarterfinal after Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych breezed past Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). Stepanek and Berdych won the 10th of their eleven Davis Cup doubles rubbers together, dominating the first two sets and coming back from 0-3 in the third set. On Sunday, Berdych will take on eighth-ranked Tipsarevic while Stepanek, the world 24, meets 27th-ranked Troicki. The winners will meet either Argentina or Croatia, who are 1-1 in Buenos Aires, in the semifinals. Australia, meanwhile, advanced to the Davis Cup World Group playoff by winning the doubles Saturday to take an unbeatable 3-0 lead over South Korea in Brisbane. The Australian combination of Chris Guccione and Marinko Matosevic downed Jeong Suk-Young and Seol Jae-Min in the doubles rubber, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to clinch the Asia-Oceania second round tie. The 28-time winner Australia will now bid to return to the Davis Cup elite group via the playoffs in September. Bernard Tomic and Matthew Ebden gave Australia a 2-0 lead over the Koreans with straight sets wins in the opening singles Friday. The dead rubber reverse singles will be played Sunday.
