BORAS, Sweden (AP)—Sweden made light work of securing a place in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup as it stormed to an unassailable 3-0 lead over Russia on Saturday.
Doubles pair Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt beat Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6), 6-2 to give the Swedes the win with a day to spare.
In a tight first set, the Swedes won 6-4 after breaking Kunitsyn’s serve in the seventh game.
The second set also looked to be headed Sweden’s way until Aspelin lost his serve and Russia drew level at 6-6.
Kunitsyn and Tursunov then won Russia’s first set of the tie, rescuing a set point for an 8-6 tiebreaker win.
The third set, too, was settled by a tiebreaker, but this time it was Sweden’s turn to win 8-6. Kunitsyn and Tursunov struggled to recover any momentum after that and fell 6-2 in the fourth.
The players knew the third set was decisive and Sweden captain Thomas Enqvist was delighted with how his team coped with the pressure.
“I’m very proud of the guys,” said Enqvist. “This match could have gone either way but the guys played very well in the fourth set.”
Sweden lined up a quarterfinal against either Serbia or India. Serbia led 2-1 in Novi Sad.
Robin Soderling and Joachim Johansson both won their singles on Friday to put the home team in a strong position.
The fourth-ranked Soderling beat Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 before Johansson overpowered Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 7-6, 6-4.