BAMBERG, Germany (AP) David Nalbandian rallied to beat Florian Mayer 2-6, 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 (5) and give Argentina a 2-0 lead over Germany Friday in the first round of the Davis Cup.
Earlier, Juan Monaco defeated Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Nalbandian fell behind 4-0 and failing to mount much of a challenge in the first set. But the 30-year-old Argentine veteran dominated the next two sets. He fired an ace to serve out the third set before Mayer began playing well again.
The German broke for 2-0, saved three break points to lead 3-0 and held serve for 4-1. But Nalbandian finally broke back in the seventh game.
A net-cord helped Mayer take a 6-5 lead, but Nalbandian held to reach a tiebreaker. He had five match points when leading 6-1, but allowed Mayer to pull back to 6-5 before converting his fifth.