HALMSTAD (Sweden): Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic beat Michael Ryderstedt of Sweden in straight sets Sunday to send the defending champion through to the Davis Cup semifinals against Argentina.
Tipsarevic won 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 to give Serbia an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five series on an indoor hard court in Halmstad.
The Serbians won the two opening singles matches but Swedish pair Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt stunned top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic in Saturday’s doubles match.
Djokovic skipped the singles to rest his sore left knee.
Tipsarevic cruised through the first set but lost his serve early in the second. He fought back to level and then broke Ryderstedt’s serve to go up 6-5 before clinching the set.
The 297th-ranked Swede lost momentum and was unable to challenge Tipsarevic, ranked 29th, in the third set.
France wrap up 4-1 win over Germany
France rounded off a 4-1 win over Germany in the nations’ Davis Cup quarterfinal in Stuttgart on Sunday after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) in the last singles rubber.
France had assured themselves of a last-four berth after their victory in Saturday’s doubles.
However, Philipp Petzschner’s win over Michael Llodra earlier on Sunday restored some pride for the hosts.
They will now face either the United States or Spain in the last four.
Hewitt leads Australia into playoffs
Lleyton Hewitt has secured Australia’s passage into the Davis Cup World Group playoffs with a 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (2) win over China’s Zhang Ze to give Australia an unassailable 3-1 lead in the Asia-Oceania second-round match.
Hewitt replaced Marinko Matosevic for the first of Sunday’s reverse singles. (Agencies)