Tennis
Serbia reach Davis Cup semis
2011-07-10 19:38
Halmstad - Holders Serbia beat Sweden to book their place in the Davis Cup semi-finals on Sunday when Janko Tipsarevic swept aside Michael Ryderstedt to win a decisive fourth rubber.
Leading 2-1 heading into Sunday's reverse singles, Tipsarevic won 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 to secure an unassailable advantage.
Serbia will now face Argentina, who completed a resounding 5-0 win over Kazakhstan on Saturday, in the semi-finals which will take place in September.
Serbia raced into a 2-0 lead on Friday as Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki won the opening two singles rubbers.
Newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Djokovic, who sat out Friday's action with a knee complaint, returned on Saturday for the doubles but was unable to round off the tie. He and partner Nenad Zimonjic were beaten in straight sets by Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt.
France, who had already secured their passage into the semifinals after taking an unassailable 3-0 lead over Germany, tied up a 4-1 win on Sunday to set up a semi-final clash with Spain or the United States.
France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6, 7-6 after Germany's Philipp Petzschner had eased past Michael Llodra 6-3 6-4.
Spain currently lead the US 2-1 with the final two singles rubbers to play.