MELBOURNE — Hard court or grass court, it didn’t seem to matter to Bob and Mike Bryan Saturday when the twin brothers gave the United States a 2-1 lead over Australia in their World Group Davis Cup first-round tie.
The Bryans, overcoming some mid-match jitters, beat Australia team captain Lleyton Hewitt — who came out of a 41-day retirement to replace Sam Groth — and John Peers 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 in doubles to put the Americans in front ahead of Sunday’s reverse singles. Hewitt had replaced an ill Nick Kyrgios in the Australian squad but didn’t play in either of the opening singles.
Novak Djokovic suffered his first Davis Cup defeat in five years as Serbia slipped 2-1 down to Kazakhstan, while Andy and Jamie Murray gave defending champion Great Britain a 2-1 lead over Japan.
World No. 1 Djokovic and 39-year-old Nenad Zimonjic lost their doubles rubber to Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov in Belgrade in the first round tie.
The 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 scoreline gave Kazakhstan a 2-1 lead ahead of the reverse singles Sunday where the winner will go on to face either Britain or Japan in July's quarterfinals.
In Birmingham, the Murray brothers edged Britain closer to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka and Yakutaka Uchiyama.
Just as in their title triumph over Belgium in November in what was Britain's first Davis Cup success in 79 years, the brothers played a starring role.
It was a fifth win in five Davis Cup outings for the Murrays who didn't face a break point Saturday.
The win gave the host a 2-1 lead and world No. 2 Andy Murray can seal the tie Sunday when he faces Japan's top player Kei Nishikori, ranked No. 6, in the first reverse singles.
Dan Evans is scheduled to face Nishioka in what may be the decider.
Croatia went ahead 2-1 in Liege when Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor enjoyed a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-1 win over Ruben Bemelmans and David Goffin.
Italy became the first team to reach the quarterfinals when Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi defeated Marco Chiudinelli and Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 for a 3-0 win over Switzerland.
Italy, whose only Davis Cup title came 40 years ago, will face either Argentina, three-time runner-up since 2006, or Poland.
Switzerland, the champion in 2014, was without Roger Federer, who is injured, and Stan Wawrinka, who opted not to play in the tie in Pesaro.
World Group rookies Poland fought back in Gdansk by winning the doubles against Argentina after dropping both of Friday's singles.
Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot saw off Carlos Berlocq and Renzo Olivo 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
In Hanover, Tomas Berdych claimed a 50th Davis Cup win when he and veteran Radek Stepanek claimed a 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 6-4 win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner.
The Czech Republic, champion in 2012 and 2013, is 2-1 in front.
The winner is likely to face France, which is 2-0 up on Canada in Guadeloupe, in the quarterfinals.
China wins against Pakistan
China Saturday beat Pakistan in a Davis Cup tie, winning the doubles match after some good rallies on day two at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts.
The Chinese team had taken a lead on day one Friday, winning both singles matches against Pakistan in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania zone Group One tie in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
The match was played in Sri Lanka instead of Pakistan due to security concerns.
Pakistan’s No.1 Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan fought hard to stay in the tie, but Chinese pair of Yan Bai and Mao-Xin Gong proved too strong, defeating them 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Svitolina to meet Bouchard
Second seed Elina Svitolina will square off against sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard in the Malaysian Open final Sunday after both won their semifinal matches in straight sets.
Svitolina, ranked 19th in the world, easily dispatched China’s Lin Zhu 6-3, 6-3 in the first semifinal which only lasted about an hour Saturday.
The 21-year-old Ukrainian had advanced to the semifinals after defeating Slovakian Kristina Kucova.
Setting up her showdown with Svitolina, world No. 52 Bouchard outpaced Britain’s Naomi Broady 6-4, 6-3.
Bouchard had a difficult 2015 but the 22-year-old Canadian has been showing signs of returning to form recently.
