Croatia reach quarter-finals

Published on Monday 13 February 2012 00:08

IVO Karlovic earned Croatia a Davis Cup quarter-final place with a straight-sets win over Go Soeda in the decisive final rubber of their tie against Japan.

Croatia went into the final day holding a 2-1 lead, but Kei Nishikori levelled for Japan by beating Ivan Dodig 7-5 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 in the first reverse singles.

That left the tie resting on the experienced Karlovic’s clash with Soeda, but the world number 43 took the first set on a tie-break and powered clear to win 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 6-4 and see his side through to a last-eight tie against Argentina, who had secured their progression after opening up a 3-0 lead over Germany. Juan Ignacio Chela extended Argentina’s advantage with a 7-5 7-5 win over Florian Mayer before Eduardo Schwank lost 7-6 (7/1) 7-5 to Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

Serbia beat Sweden and will face the Czech Republic, who beat Italy 4-1. Austria beat Russia and face defending champions Spain, who completed a 5-0 whitewash of Kazakhstan. The United States were also 5-0 winners over Switzerland.

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