Argentina Beats Russia in Davis Cup Quarterfinals; Serbia Defeats Croatia

David Nalbandian won the deciding singles match against Russia today to put Argentina in the semifinals of tennis’s Davis Cup, while Serbia reached the last four for a first time.

Nalbandian beat Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-3 in Moscow to give Argentina, twice a runnerup in the last four years, a 3-2 win in the best-of-five series. Russia, which beat Argentina in the 2006 final, was on a 17-tie winning streak at home.

Serbia defeated Croatia 4-1 after winning both of today’s singles matches. France won 5-0 against Spain, which was without top-ranked Rafael Nadal. The Czech Republic has an unbeatable 3- 0 lead against Chile.

Russia had moved into a 2-2 tie against Argentina after Nikolay Davydenko won in four sets against Eduardo Schwank in today’s opening singles match. Nalbandian, who has struggled this season with injuries, then secured his third win in four meetings with Youzhny.

In Split, Croatia, Novak Djokovic beat Marin Cilic, then Janko Tipsarevic defeated Antonio Veic to set up a semifinal for Serbia against the Czech Republic.

Nine-time champion France, which will be Argentina’s semifinal opponent, swept its fixture against Spain with Gilles Simon and Julien Benneteau providing today’s wins.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Cone in London at jcone@bloomberg.net.