Czechs set Davis Cup record as Serbia cruise

Holders Czech Republic showed how tenaciously they will fight to retain the Davis Cup, while five-times champions Spain boosted their hopes of avoiding a first-round knockout for the first time since 2006 by winning their doubles rubber against Canada.

Czechs Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol won a record-breaking doubles match against Swiss duo Marco Chiudinelli and Stanislas Wawrinka.

Their seven-hour-two-minute victory, including a 24-22 final set, put the Czechs 2-1 ahead in the tie in Geneva and they need to win only one of the two singles rubbers on Sunday.

The Czechs needed 13 match points before the Swiss finally cracked but for France and Serbia things were far more straightforward as they took unassailable 3-0 leads in their matches against Israel and Belgium respectively.

Argentina also clinched a quarter-final berth by taking a 3-0 lead against Germany.

Top seeds Spain, missing top-15 players Rafa Nadal, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro and world number 24 Fernando Verdasco, gave themselves a chance of joining them after Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez produced a gritty five-set win.

Trailing 2-0 after dropping both singles matches on Friday, the Spanish duo overcame Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 4-6 6-4 6-7 6-3 6-2 to stay alive in the tie.

The Spaniards, however, face a tough task on Sunday with Canada's world number 15 Milos Raonic to play Granollers in the first match of the reverse singles.