Reign of Spain Is Ended by Slovakia in First Round

Defending champion Spain was eliminated from the Davis Cup on Saturday when Slovakia took an insurmountable 3-0 following a doubles victory at Bratislava, Slovakia.

Karol Beck and Michal Mertinak beat Albert Costa and Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-6 (8), as Slovakia got to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2000.

Spain, which beat the United States to win its second Davis Cup three months ago, was without three top players -- Carlos Moya, Tommy Robredo and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

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David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas defeated Tomas Zib and Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, at Buenos Aires to give Argentina an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

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Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge beat Austria’s Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer, 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, to give Australia a 3-0 lead at Sydney.

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Yves Allegro and George Bastl fought off three match points to beat Dennis Van Scheppingen and Peter Wessels, 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 9-7, and keep Switzerland alive against the Netherlands at Fribourg, Switzerland. The Dutch lead, 2-1.

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Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra beat Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4, to give France a 2-1 lead over Sweden at Strasbourg, France. ... Marat Safin and Mikhail Youzhny beat Fernando Gonzalez and Adrian Garcia, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, to give Russia a 2-1 lead over Chile at Moscow. ... Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov beat Andrei Pavel and Gabriel Trifu, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4, to give Belarus a 2-1 lead over Romania at Brasov, Romania.