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Madrid. David Ferrer swept aside Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in straight sets to put defending champion Spain into the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Sunday, while David Nalbandian secured Argentina’s 3-2 victory over Sweden by beating Andreas Vinciguerra in the last match.

Serbia beat the United States and Russia ousted India a day after France, Croatia and the Czech Republic sealed their places in the last eight of the World Group with victories in Saturday’s doubles.

In a contest delayed by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Chile on Feb. 27, Israel beat Chile in Sunday’s doubles and now trails 2-1, having lost the opening two singles matches.

With Spain leading 2-1 going into Sunday’s singles, the match in effect hinged on Ferrer’s meeting with Wawrinka in the Logrono bullring. The Spaniard triumphed 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 to extend his country’s unbeaten run at home to 19 ties, dating to 1999.

“No other country has the standard of tennis we have in Spain,” said Ferrer, who then watched Nicolas Almagro beat Marco Chiudinelli 6-1, 6-3 in the final match to complete a 4-1 victory. “We’ve played well in the home ties and that is crucial. What’s more, we’ve done well in the doubles matches.”

Both teams were without their best players as Swiss No. 1 Roger Federer skipped the event and Rafael Nadal is struggling with a knee injury. It was Spain’s 19th straight win in Davis Cup home ties, stretching back to a defeat by Brazil in 1999.

Spain will now face France in the quarterfinals, which will be played July 9-11.

“Playing here in front of your fans is the greatest thing for a tennis player,” Ferrer said. “The match against France will be a tough hurdle, but I think we have the squad to keep this run going.”

Sweden and Argentina were level at 2-2 before Nalbandian won the final match 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to clinch the series at Stockholm’s Royal Tennis Hall.

Nalbandian broke Vinci­guerra for a 2-1 lead in the fourth set and held his serve the rest of the way, converting his first match point with a backhand winner to line up a last-eight meeting with Russia.

“I didn’t feel very fit yet, but today it was enough,” said Nalbandian, who has been sidelined with injuries and made up his mind to play 10 minutes before the match. “I warmed up, and I felt worse than I thought,” he added. “But with the flag behind us, it’s tough to not be on court.”

Novak Djokovic outlasted John Isner 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-4 to give the Serbs an unbeatable 3-1 lead over the Americans in Belgrade. Sam Querrey later beat Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-2 to make it 3-2. Serbia will now face bitter Balkan rival Croatia for a place in the semifinals.

Russia secured a quarterfinal spot when Mikhail Youzhny completed a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Somdev Devvarman for a 3-1 lead in Moscow.

The Russians eventually won 3-2, stretching their home winning streak to 17 ties.

Youzhny said: “I had to play a bit more aggressively than usual, as it’s tough to play against a guy who doesn’t miss anything. I’ve played well over the two matches and I’m happy with my game, and that we’re through to the next round.”

The Czech Republic will play the winner of Chile’s encounter with Israel.

Israel’s doubles team of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram defeated Paul Capderville and Jorge Aguilar 6-7 (5), 7-6 (9), 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 to set up the key reverse singles matches on Monday.

Fernando Gonzalez will face Dudi Sela and Nicolas Massu will play Harel Levi. Gonzalez defeated Levi on Saturday, when Massu beat Sela.

“They started well, but I think the difference was experience,” Ram said. “We’ve been playing Davis Cup a long time and we knew it was no big deal being two sets to one down.”

  Tennis

AP, Reuters