Davis Cup: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray sprint through opening ties

Paris Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray sprinted through their Davis Cup openers on Friday to edge Serbia and defending champions Great Britain closer to a dream quarterfinal showdownWorld number one Djokovic showed no signs of the eye infection which brought his run of 17 successive finals to an end in Dubai last week as he brushed past Kazakhstans Aleksandr Nedovyesov 61 62 63 in BelgradeNovak DjokovicDjokovic who led Serbia to the 2010 title did require treatment on a left shoulder problem although it did not prevent him from securing an easy win over his 200thranked opponent The shoulder is nothing and the eye infection is behind me so I am looking forward to playing the doubles on Saturday said Djokovic World number 23 Viktor Troicki will tackle Kazakhstans top player Mikhail Kukushkin the world 79 in Fridays second singles Serbia could face Great Britain in the July quarterfinals and Murray did his best to keep that clash on track when he saw off Japans world number 87 Taro Daniel 61 63 61 in just 90 minutes in BirminghamAndy MurrayThe second singles match on Friday is between Japans world number six Kei Nishikori and Dan Evans who was only selected to play after Kyle Edmund failed to overcome a back injury Murray was playing for the first time since losing to Djokovic in last months Australian Open final opting instead to spend time with new daughter Sophia born on February 7 and wife Kim Sears The last few weeks have been the best of my life its been really really special he told the BBC Its been tough the last few days being away from her new daughter Sophia for the first time It had to happen at some timeIts a pleasure to come and represent my country though Australias Bernard Tomic fought off a challenge from American Jack Sock to level their tie 11 in Melbourne Tomic looked to be heading for a comfortable victory rolling through the opening two sets before being forced to battle hard to win 76 72 63 36 64 in two hours 24 minutes on the grass surface of Kooyong The victory in sweltering temperatures was crucial for Lleyton Hewitts Australians who lost the opening singles rubber when Sam Groth went down to bighitting world number 11 John Isner 76 72 62 62 The tie is well poised heading into Saturdays pivotal doubles rubber with the Americans looking to edge ahead through the Bryan brothers Bob and Mike against a yet to be determined Australian combination The winner of that tie will face either last years runnersup Belgium or 2005 champions Croatia in the last eight Former US Open champion Marin Cilic gave Croatia a winning start in Liege seeing off Kimmer Coppejans 75 63 75 Switzerland the champions in 2014 are in Pesaro to face Italy without Roger Federer who is recovering from knee surgery and the resting Stan Wawrinka Instead their hopes will be spearheaded by 34yearold Marco Chiudinelli whose ranking is a lowly 146The winner of that tie will face either Poland or Argentina who are playing in Gdansk Guido Pella defeated Michal Przysiezny 61 64 76 75 to give Argentina runnersup three times since 2006 an early lead In Guadeloupe Yannick Noahs first match in his second spell as France captain got off to a winning start when Gael Monfils eased past Frank Dancevic 63 61 63 in the tie against Canada The Canadians hopes were hit on the eve of the tie when world number 13 Milos Raonic and doubles specialist Daniel Nestor were ruled out The eventual winners face either Germany or the Czech Republic champions in 2012 and 2013 in the next round World number 30 Philipp Kohlschreiber gave Germany the lead in Hanover with a 36 63 64 26 63 victory over Lukas Rosol Czech number one Tomas Berdych will face 18yearold debutant Alexander Zverev in the second singles rubber