Austria win Davis Cup doubles against Spain, trail 1-2

Madrid, April 8 (IANS) The Davis Cup quarterfinal tie between Spain and Austria will go into the third and final day after the Austrian doubles pairing of Oliver Marach/Alexander Peya beat the Spanish pairing of Marc Lopez/Marcel Granollers in four sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6.

After losing the opening set Saturday, the Austrians managed to narrowly defeat the Spaniards in a match that was twice delayed by rain and which perhaps stopped the Spanish duo finding their best rhythm, Xinhua reported.

The tie now stands at two matches to one in Spain's favour, meaning the return singles tie will now decide who qualifies for the semi-final. The Spanish will take heart from their display in Friday's singles and from the fact that Austria has never come back from 0-2 down in the Davis Cup.

The Spaniards had again showed how comfortable they are on beaten clay Friday as Nicolas Almagro and David Ferrer breezed through their singles matches against Juergen Melzer and Andres Haider-Mauer.

Almagro got Spain off to a perfect start with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 triumph against Melzer and Ferrer rounded off an easy day for the Spanish with another straight sets (6-1, 6-3, 6-1) win against Haider-Mauer.