VIENNA, Austria — Handling its opponent with precision and power, the defending champion United States eliminated Austria from the Davis Cup on Saturday to set up a quarterfinal against France.
Twins Bob and Mike Bryan were in full command, defeating the doubles team of Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
The victory gave the Americans an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five, first-round series. France advanced by going up 3-0 against Romania and will play the Americans on April 11-13.
“I am glad we finished off the job on the second day,” U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe said. “It was a tough draw. Both singles were extremely difficult, but the guys were mentally very strong in handling the circumstances.”
Andy Roddick and James Blake won opening singles matches Friday against Melzer and Stefan Koubek. McEnroe has not decided which players he’ll use for Sunday’s meaningless reverse singles. Roddick had trouble with his right knee against Melzer and was unlikely to play.
“The Bryans were at their very best,” said Knowle, a U.S. Open doubles champion. “There was just nothing to gain for us. They outplayed us in every department of the game and we were miles away from winning.”
The U.S. won its record 32nd Davis Cup in December, beating Russia 4-1 in Portland, Ore. The Americans used the same four-man team to win at Austria on a difficult clay surface.
In other World Group play, Argentina (over Britain), the Czech Republic (over Belgium) and Spain (over Peru) advanced to the quarterfinals with 3-0 victories. Leading 2-1 were: Russia (over Serbia), Israel (over Sweden) and Germany (over South Korea).
The Bryans won 12 of the first 14 points for a 3-0 lead. Bob Bryan double-faulted at 3-1 but Knowle put a volley wide on the only break point the Austrians got in the match. Melzer dropped serve again at 4-1 and Mike Bryan held to love to take the first set. An early break of Melzer’s serve was enough for the Bryans to win the second set.
“It came pretty easy and we were never under the gun,” Mike Bryan said. “We sustained our aggressive mentality throughout the match and never felt big pressure.”
The Americans raced ahead 4-0 in the third set and wrapped up the victory on their first match point on Mike Bryan’s serve.
“I expected them to bring out their best today,” Bob Bryan said. “So I was surprised by the way things went.”
Melzer dropped serve four times.
“If they have a weakness, it could be their return game,” he said. “But today they were returning incredibly well. That put a lot of pressure on our serve all the time.”
Austria captain Gilbert Schaller defended the decision to play on slow indoor clay.
“Melzer broke Roddick’s serve several times and came close to winning,” Schaller said. “He wouldn’t have had so many chances on a different surface.”
Austria has not won in the World Group since 1995. It will enter the playoff round in September in an attempt to not drop to a lower level.
“We are too good for the Europe/Africa Zone, but we are not good enough for the World Group,” Schaller said. “These are the facts.”
At Sibiu, Romania, the French pair of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra were taken to five sets by Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea but won to complete an early advance in this Transylvanian city. These countries met at the same stage of the Davis Cup last year, with France winning 4-1. Romania took the Davis Cup in 1974.
At Buenos Aires, David Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso won in doubles in three sets in a match briefly delayed because of rain. Argentina will next play Sweden or Israel.
At Ostrava, Czech Republic, doubles partners Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek won in five sets before a home crowd against Belgium. The Czechs face Russia or Serbia in the quarters.
At Lima, Peru, Spain’s Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco beat Peru’s Luis Horna and Ivan Miranda 6-3, 6-4 7-6 (4) in doubles to help Spain advance to the quarterfinals.
At Moscow, Russia lost in doubles but still leads Serbia 2-1. Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic played a day after withdrawing from singles because of the flu.
At Ramat Hasharon, Israel, the Israelis pulled ahead of Sweden 2-1 on a doubles victory by Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich.
At Braunschweig, Germany, the Germans had an easy time behind, getting a straight-sets doubles victory from Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner that put them ahead 2-1 against South Korea.
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