Andy Roddick and James Blake battled to victory on a difficult surface to give the United States a 2-0 start to their defence of the Davis Cup in Friday's matches.

In Vienna, Roddick scored a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 win over Austria's Juergen Melzer, while Blake defeated Austrian number one Stefan Koubek 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.

Russia, losing finalists to the US last year, also went 2-0 up on day one, helped by misfortune in the Serbian camp. World number three and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and national number two Janko Tipsarevic were ruled out due to illness. That took a toll as Mikhail Youzhny beat Nenad Zimonjic 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the opener in Moscow before world number four Nikolay Davydenko defeated Davis Cup debutant Viktor Troicki 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

Argentina had an easier task against a British side missing injured world number 11 Andy Murray. Agustin Calleri beat Alex Bogdanovic 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 after world number nine David Nalbandian had coasted to a 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Davis Cup newcomer Jamie Baker on clay surface in Buenos Aires.

Tsonga wins

Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga helped France go 2-0 up against Romania in the Transylvanian town of Sibiu with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Andrei Pavel. World number seven Richard Gasquet had put the nine-time champions France 1-0 up by beating Victor Hanescu 7-6, 6-4, 7-5.

In Ostrava, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek guided Czech Republic into a 2-0 lead over Belgium. Berdych cruised past Kristof Vliegen 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 before Stepanek beat Steve Darcis 6-4, 7-6, 7-6.
 
South Korea and Germany were 1-1 in Braunschweig after Lee Hyung-taik battled to a 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Florian Mayer. German Philipp Kohlschreiber had beaten An Jae-sung 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 earlier.

Honours were even between Israel and Sweden in Tel Aviv. Israeli No 1 Dudi Sela upset Swede Jonas Bjorkman 7-6, 6-3, 6-1, while former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson beat Harel Levy 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.

Spain, the 2004 champions, took a 2-0 lead over Peru after Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo won. Robredo beat Ivan Miranda 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 after debutant Almagro beat Matias Silva 6-3, 7-5, 6-0 in the opening day's singles matches on outdoor clay in Lima.