MOSCOW, Russia -- Mikhail Youzhny overcame leg problems and a dogged opponent to beat Richard Gasquet 6-2 6-3 6-7 5-7 8-6 and put defending champions Russia level with France on the first day of their Davis Cup quarterfinal in Moscow on Friday.
The two players switched control of the match, which lasted four hours and 48 minutes. "It was very nerve-racking," Youzhny said, adding that he had failed to exploit his chances and finish the match sooner.
France had taken a 1-0 lead when Paul-Henri Mathieu upset world number four Nikolay Davydenko 2-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 in the first rubber.
Youzhny, ranked 17th in the world, took the first and second sets confidently but his luck started to falter in the third set when he slipped and had to undergo treatment to his left thigh and shin.
He returned to the court to loud cheers from the home crowd, which had grown as the working day in Moscow came to an end.
Gasquet won the third set tiebreak 10-8 before Youzhny, who took time-outs to have both his cramping legs massaged, took the fourth set.
The neck-and-neck fight carried on into the fifth set until a Youzhny winner finally relieved the palpable tension in Moscow's Luzhniki arena.
Davydenko blamed his lacklustre performance against the 56th-ranked Mathieu on the clay surface, which he said he found difficult to get used to after a season of playing on hard courts.
"I understood I am not ready for the clay season," he said.
He praised Mathieu's game, saying the Frenchman had rallied after a jittery and error-ridden first set.
"In the second set after my first serve which I lost...he became more confident and started to play better, faster and more confidently."
In the third set, Mathieu sent the ball skilfully all around the court forcing Davydenko to chase it.
Looking exasperated, the hosts' highest-ranked player upped his game but it was too late to make a difference and Davydenko lost the fourth set.
Russia beat France at the quarter-final stage in the previous two Davis Cups and also defeated them in the 2002 final to lift their first title in Paris.
Sweden take 2-0 advantage
Meanwhile, Thomas Johansson and Robin Soderling gave Sweden a commanding 2-0 lead in their quarterfinal against Argentina in closely-fought matches that featured a total of five tie-breaks.
Johansson stunned Argentine number one David Nalbandian 6-7 7-6 6-2 7-6, while Soderling beat teenager Juan-Martin Del Potro 7-6 7-6 6-4.
The 18-year-old Del Potro, number 58 in the world, kept up with Sweden's top player for the first two sets, losing both tie-breaks by 7-4.
In the third set, the 30th-ranked Soderling sent the lanky Del Potro running from corner to corner, chasing the ball fruitlessly.
The Argentine fought valiantly to save two match points but eventually succumbed to the more experienced, 22-year-old Swede.
In the first rubber, Johansson, 32, a former Australian Open champion currently ranked 73rd, proved too tough a nut to crack for the 12th-ranked Nalbandian on the fast carpet surface at the Gothenburg Convention Center.
"This was probably the best Davis Cup match I've ever played," said Johansson. "This is our best surface and we have three great singles players to choose from."
Nalbandian, 25, won the first set on a 7-3 tie-break after the players broke each others' serve once. The Swede won the second-set tie-break 7-2 after denying Nalbandian on a set point in the tenth game.
"I was tight and nervous in the beginning," Johansson said. "If he had made that set point it would have been a different match." Johansson, who served a total of 33 aces to only 18 for Nalbandian, took the third set easily.
Nalbandian yelled at himself several times in frustration as he committed 41 unforced errors, drawing a warning from the umpire.
"He was very good," Nalbandian said of his opponent. "The surface was not easy to play on. Sometimes the ball bounced faster, sometimes not. It was terrible."
In a tense fourth set, the players broke each other once before Johansson took the tie-break to love in front of a noisy, partisan, capacity crowd of 4,000.
On Saturday, Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt can win the tie for Sweden in their doubles match against Nalbandian and Sebastian Prieto.
The winner of this tie will play either the United States or Spain in the semifinals.
Germany looking good for semifinal place
Germany lead Belgium 2-0 after the first day of their quarterfinal in Ostend following wins for Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber over Kristof Vliegen and Olivier Rochus respectively on Friday.
Victory for Germany in Saturday's doubles, which pits Belgium's Christophe Rochus and Dick Norman against Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske, will see them reach a semifinal against either Russia or France.
Davis Cup debutant Kohlschreiber made easy work of his victory over the younger of the Rochus brothers with a scoreline of 6-3 7-5 7-6, after Haas had come from behind to defeat Vliegen 6-7 7-5 6-4 6-2 in the opening rubber.
Vliegen, who upset former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the first round, looked on course to repeat his heroic feat when he took the opening set on a tie-break.
World number 10 Haas, however, began to settle and took control of the second set before levelling matters.
Haas eventually proved too strong for the Belgian, ranked 41 places below him, and raced to take the next three sets and secure the rubber.
"He is a clever player and gave me a fright early on," Haas told reporters.
"It took me a while to get used to the court and I think he picked up a little injury which helped me out. Hopefully I can just continue from where I left off over the weekend."
Kohlschreiber completely dominated his match against Rochus and never looked like losing. "I was very pleased with the way I controlled the game and we are now in pole position. But we cannot take anything for certain tomorrow," Kohlschreiber said.
Victory for Germany on Saturday would keep them on course for a fifth straight whitewash of the Belgians.
Blake puts American ahead
James Blake rediscovered his form at precisely the right moment as he put the United States 1-0 up in their quarterfinal against Spain in North Carolina.
The ninth-ranked Blake defeated Tommy Robredo 6-4 6-3 6-4 to bolster his recent sagging confidence.
The American, who had lost six of his last nine matches, paved the way for team-mate Andy Roddick, who was facing Fernando Verdasco in the day's second rubber on an indoor hardcourt.
A sold-out crowd of 15,000 cheered their hero from the start at the venue where Blake made his Davis Cup debut against India just weeks after the September 9, 2001 attacks on the U.S.
The American cracked open the first set with a break in the final game, then seized the second after taking a 4-1 lead over world number six Robredo.
Robredo applied pressure as he broke while Blake was serving for victory at 5-2 in the third set but the American clinched the win two games later on his fourth match point.
"My forehand was working really well, it felt great to hit them," Blake told reporters. "But I had to fight hard against Tommy.
"At the end you could see why he's a top-10 player. They never die, I'm just glad I got through this one."
Spain are playing without Rafael Nadal as the world number two rests a foot injury. The nations last met in the 2004 final, with Spain winning in Seville in front of 27,000 fans.
The two players switched control of the match, which lasted four hours and 48 minutes. "It was very nerve-racking," Youzhny said, adding that he had failed to exploit his chances and finish the match sooner.
France had taken a 1-0 lead when Paul-Henri Mathieu upset world number four Nikolay Davydenko 2-6 6-2 6-1 7-5 in the first rubber.
Youzhny, ranked 17th in the world, took the first and second sets confidently but his luck started to falter in the third set when he slipped and had to undergo treatment to his left thigh and shin.
He returned to the court to loud cheers from the home crowd, which had grown as the working day in Moscow came to an end.
Gasquet won the third set tiebreak 10-8 before Youzhny, who took time-outs to have both his cramping legs massaged, took the fourth set.
The neck-and-neck fight carried on into the fifth set until a Youzhny winner finally relieved the palpable tension in Moscow's Luzhniki arena.
Davydenko blamed his lacklustre performance against the 56th-ranked Mathieu on the clay surface, which he said he found difficult to get used to after a season of playing on hard courts.
"I understood I am not ready for the clay season," he said.
He praised Mathieu's game, saying the Frenchman had rallied after a jittery and error-ridden first set.
"In the second set after my first serve which I lost...he became more confident and started to play better, faster and more confidently."
In the third set, Mathieu sent the ball skilfully all around the court forcing Davydenko to chase it.
Looking exasperated, the hosts' highest-ranked player upped his game but it was too late to make a difference and Davydenko lost the fourth set.
Russia beat France at the quarter-final stage in the previous two Davis Cups and also defeated them in the 2002 final to lift their first title in Paris.
Sweden take 2-0 advantage
Meanwhile, Thomas Johansson and Robin Soderling gave Sweden a commanding 2-0 lead in their quarterfinal against Argentina in closely-fought matches that featured a total of five tie-breaks.
Johansson stunned Argentine number one David Nalbandian 6-7 7-6 6-2 7-6, while Soderling beat teenager Juan-Martin Del Potro 7-6 7-6 6-4.
The 18-year-old Del Potro, number 58 in the world, kept up with Sweden's top player for the first two sets, losing both tie-breaks by 7-4.
In the third set, the 30th-ranked Soderling sent the lanky Del Potro running from corner to corner, chasing the ball fruitlessly.
The Argentine fought valiantly to save two match points but eventually succumbed to the more experienced, 22-year-old Swede.
In the first rubber, Johansson, 32, a former Australian Open champion currently ranked 73rd, proved too tough a nut to crack for the 12th-ranked Nalbandian on the fast carpet surface at the Gothenburg Convention Center.
"This was probably the best Davis Cup match I've ever played," said Johansson. "This is our best surface and we have three great singles players to choose from."
Nalbandian, 25, won the first set on a 7-3 tie-break after the players broke each others' serve once. The Swede won the second-set tie-break 7-2 after denying Nalbandian on a set point in the tenth game.
"I was tight and nervous in the beginning," Johansson said. "If he had made that set point it would have been a different match." Johansson, who served a total of 33 aces to only 18 for Nalbandian, took the third set easily.
Nalbandian yelled at himself several times in frustration as he committed 41 unforced errors, drawing a warning from the umpire.
"He was very good," Nalbandian said of his opponent. "The surface was not easy to play on. Sometimes the ball bounced faster, sometimes not. It was terrible."
In a tense fourth set, the players broke each other once before Johansson took the tie-break to love in front of a noisy, partisan, capacity crowd of 4,000.
On Saturday, Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt can win the tie for Sweden in their doubles match against Nalbandian and Sebastian Prieto.
The winner of this tie will play either the United States or Spain in the semifinals.
Germany looking good for semifinal place
Germany lead Belgium 2-0 after the first day of their quarterfinal in Ostend following wins for Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber over Kristof Vliegen and Olivier Rochus respectively on Friday.
Victory for Germany in Saturday's doubles, which pits Belgium's Christophe Rochus and Dick Norman against Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske, will see them reach a semifinal against either Russia or France.
Davis Cup debutant Kohlschreiber made easy work of his victory over the younger of the Rochus brothers with a scoreline of 6-3 7-5 7-6, after Haas had come from behind to defeat Vliegen 6-7 7-5 6-4 6-2 in the opening rubber.
Vliegen, who upset former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the first round, looked on course to repeat his heroic feat when he took the opening set on a tie-break.
World number 10 Haas, however, began to settle and took control of the second set before levelling matters.
Haas eventually proved too strong for the Belgian, ranked 41 places below him, and raced to take the next three sets and secure the rubber.
"He is a clever player and gave me a fright early on," Haas told reporters.
"It took me a while to get used to the court and I think he picked up a little injury which helped me out. Hopefully I can just continue from where I left off over the weekend."
Kohlschreiber completely dominated his match against Rochus and never looked like losing. "I was very pleased with the way I controlled the game and we are now in pole position. But we cannot take anything for certain tomorrow," Kohlschreiber said.
Victory for Germany on Saturday would keep them on course for a fifth straight whitewash of the Belgians.
Blake puts American ahead
James Blake rediscovered his form at precisely the right moment as he put the United States 1-0 up in their quarterfinal against Spain in North Carolina.
The ninth-ranked Blake defeated Tommy Robredo 6-4 6-3 6-4 to bolster his recent sagging confidence.
The American, who had lost six of his last nine matches, paved the way for team-mate Andy Roddick, who was facing Fernando Verdasco in the day's second rubber on an indoor hardcourt.
A sold-out crowd of 15,000 cheered their hero from the start at the venue where Blake made his Davis Cup debut against India just weeks after the September 9, 2001 attacks on the U.S.
The American cracked open the first set with a break in the final game, then seized the second after taking a 4-1 lead over world number six Robredo.
Robredo applied pressure as he broke while Blake was serving for victory at 5-2 in the third set but the American clinched the win two games later on his fourth match point.
"My forehand was working really well, it felt great to hit them," Blake told reporters. "But I had to fight hard against Tommy.
"At the end you could see why he's a top-10 player. They never die, I'm just glad I got through this one."
Spain are playing without Rafael Nadal as the world number two rests a foot injury. The nations last met in the 2004 final, with Spain winning in Seville in front of 27,000 fans.
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