JOIN USHolders Czech Republic showed how tenaciously they will fight to retain the Davis Cup on Saturday, while five-time champions Spain boosted their hopes of avoiding a first-round knockout for the first time since 2006 by winning their doubles rubber against Canada.
Czechs Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol won a record-breaking doubles match against Swiss duo Marco Chiudinelli and Stanislas Wawrinka.
Their seven hour two minute victory, including a 24-22 final set, put the Czechs 2-1 ahead in the tie in Geneva and they need to win only one of the two singles rubbers on Sunday.
Argentina also clinched a quarterfinal berth by taking a 3-0 lead against Germany.
Results: At Vancouver: Canada lead Spain 2-1 (Milos Raonic bt Albert Ramos 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Frank Dancevic bt Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-2, 6-2; Daniel Nestor/ Vasek Pospisil lt to Granollers/ Marc Lopez 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 2-6).
At Turin: Italy lead Croatia 2-1 (Paolo Lorenzi lt to Marin Cilic 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Andreas Seppi bt Ivan Dodig 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4; Fabio Fognini/ Simone Bolelli bt Cilic/ Dodig 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9)).
At Charleroi: Belgium trail Serbia 0-3 (David Goffin lt to Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 4-6, 4-6; Olivier Rochus lt to Noval Djokovic 3-6, 2-6, 2-6; Steve Darcis/ Ruben Bemelmans lt to Troicki/ Nenad Ziminjic 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6).
At Jacksonville: United States lead Brazil 2-1 (Sam Querrey bt Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; John Isner bt Thiago Alves 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Bob Bryan/ Mike Bryan lt to Bruno Soares/ Marcelo Melo 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-3, 3-6).
At Rouen: France bt Israel 5-0 (Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Amir Weintraub 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; Richard Gasquet bt Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Michael Llodra/ Julien Benneteau bt Sela/ Jonathan Erlich 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6-0; Llodra bt Noam Okun 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Gasquet bt Weintraub 6-4, 6-3).
At Buenos Aires: Argentina lead Germany 3-0 (Carlos Berlocq bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 4-5 (retd); Juan Monaco bt Florian Mayer 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-4; David Nalbandian/ Horacio Zeballos bt Christopher Kas/ Tobias Kamke 6-1, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2).
At Astana: Kazakhstan lead Austria 3-1 (Andrey Golubev bt Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Evgeny Korolov bt Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-2; Golubev/ Yuriy Schukin lt to Julian Knowle/Alexander Peya 6-7 (5-7), 3-6, 6-7 (3-7); Golubev bt Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2).
At Geneva: Switzerland trail Czech Republic 1-3 (Stanislas Wawrinka bt Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; Henri Laaksonen lt to Tomas Berdych 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-6; Stanislas Wawrinka/ Marco Chiudinelli lt to Berdych/ Rosol 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 22-24; Wawrinka lt to Berdych 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7).