WORLD No 1 Rafael Nadal beat No 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-4 6-4 6-1 yesterday to give champions Spain victory in their Davis Cup first-round tie and a place in the last eight against Germany.
The Australian Open champion's win gave Spain an unassailable 3-1 lead and David Ferrer, who upset an erratic Djokovic in the delayed opening singles on Saturday, wrapped up a 4-1 victory when he beat Viktor Troicki 6-0 6-3 in the shortened remaini
ng singles in the best-of-five tie.
The second seeds will play Germany at home in July's world group quarter-finals after Nicolas Kiefer beat Juergen Melzer yesterday to give them an unassailable 3-1 lead in their tie against Austria in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Nadal had thrashed Janko Tipsarevic to put Spain 2-0 ahead on Saturday before Serbia took the doubles to keep them alive ahead of yesterday's reverse singles.
The tie had been due to begin on Friday but play was postponed after high winds damaged the seating at the purpose-built arena around the clay court in the hills above the Mediterranean resort of Benidorm.
Djokovic put up a better fight against Nadal than he had in his error-strewn loss to Ferrer but he was unable to cope with the powerful Majorcan's superior hitting and his attempts to mix it up with dropshots largely ended in failure. Nadal sealed victory with a thumping backhand winner down the line after just under two-and-a-half hours in front of the noisy and colourful home support in the Costa Blanca sunshine.
Nadal said: "Djokovic was much better than yesterday but the ball was kicking up quite a lot and that was favourable for me.
We are playing at home again in the quarters and that gives us a great chance of making the semis."
