World number one Rafael Nadal beat number three Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-4 6-4 6-1 in Benidorm to give champions Spain victory in their Davis Cup first-round tie.

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 remaining 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 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 Sunday’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.

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 drop-shots 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.

It was his 12th win in 12 Davis Cup singles since he lost his debut against Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic in 2004 and he improved his record on clay since 2005 to 133 wins and only four defeats.

Nadal thanked the Spanish supporters and paid tribute to the organisers for coping with the difficult weather conditions last week when the town was buffeted by winds of almost 90kph, disrupting the players’ practice time.

“Djokovic was much better than yesterday, playing with more rhythm and confidence but the ball was kicking up quite a lot and that was favourable for me,” he said.

“We are playing at home again in the quarters and that gives us a great chance of making it to the semis.”

Djokovic had complained on Saturday about the lack of practice time on clay with the players in the middle of the hard-court season.

“It’s not an excuse but if the conditions had been better and we had had more time to practise I think we would have put up a better fight,” he said.

“I wasn’t 100 per cent prepared,” he added. “It’s not easy switching from a quick surface to a slow one like clay, especially when you are up against the number one in the world.”

GERMANY 3-2 AUSTRIA

A resurgent Nicolas Kiefer beat Austria’s Juergen Melzer 7-6 6-4 6-4 to give three-times champions Germany an unassailable 3-1 lead in their Davis Cup world group first-round tie.

Germany, who improved their Davis Cup head-to-head record with Austria to 5-0, move into the quarter-finals where they meet holders Spain, who beat Serbia 4-1.

Kiefer, who was playing his first competitive singles match after a two-month break following a double ligament rupture in January, had also won the doubles match, partnered by Philipp Kohlschreiber, against Alexander Peya and Julian Knowle.

Kohlschreiber had levelled the series on Friday with a five-set win over Melzer after Stefan Koubek had stunned the hosts at Garmisch-Partenkirchen’s Eissportzentrum with a surprise four-set win over world number 31 Rainer Schuettler.

Kiefer was a last-minute replacement for Schuettler for the singles on Sunday and lived up to captain Patrik Kuehnen’s trust, firing 14 aces past Melzer, ranked 32 in the world, in a solid performance.

The players traded breaks in the first set but Kiefer dropped just three points in the tie break, winning it on a Melzer double-fault.

He then broke the erratic Austrian in the first game of the second set and was awarded a disputed point after throwing his racket over the net as he chased down a drop shot. He held on to win 6-4.

Kiefer only needed another break to wrap up the match in the third, extending his perfect record against Melzer to 8-0.

“This is overwhelming,” the 31-year-old said at the courtside. “After all these injuries I nowadays go out on court to have fun and that is what I did today as well.”

Kiefer said Germany had their work cut out against Spain in July, especially after their 4-1 drubbing at home last year.

“We did not have a good tie last year at home in Bremen and it is not going to be easy in Spain but first let’s just enjoy this win.”

Stefan Koubek beat Christopher Kas 6-2 6-3 in the concluding dead rubber.

ROMANIA 1-4 RUSSIA

Substitute Dmitry Tursunov powered Russia into the Davis Cup quarter-finals when he came back from two sets down to defeat Romania number one Victor Hanescu in the first reverse singles.

The 28th-ranked Tursunov, who replaced former world number one Marat Safin, won 4-6 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-2 to give the visitors an unassailable 3-1 lead over Romania in their first-round tie.

Davis Cup debutant Teimuraz Gabashvili then beat Victor Crivoi 6-4 6-2 in the dead fifth rubber to seal a 4-1 win for the Russians.

Russia, who won the Davis Cup in 2002 and 2006 and were the finalists in 2007, will take on Israel, who edged out Sweden 3-2, in the July quarter-finals.

Outsiders Romania, who staged a dramatic comeback to win the doubles on Saturday and keep alive their hopes in the three-day tie, were looking to even the score when Hanescu took a two-set lead against the error-prone Russian.

However, Tursunov settled down by the start of the third set and gradually took control of the see-saw encounter.

World number 39 Hanescu finally ran out of gas in the fifth set as Tursunov built up a 5-1 lead before comfortably serving out the match after three hours 46 minutes.

“I was making far too many errors in the first two sets,” Tursunov said. “But after falling two sets behind I was able to calm myself down and as a result started playing much better. In the fifth set I saw that he was tired so I tried to put more pressure on him and it worked.”

Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev said: “A lot of people kept calling us big favourites against this Romanian team but I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Even after we won both singles rubbers on Friday I said the tie is not over just yet. I guess, some of our guys just didn’t listen.

“Of course, I would have liked to finish it on Saturday so I wouldn’t have to sweat it out on the bench today,” added Tarpishchev, who celebrated his 61st birthday on Saturday.

“But I’ll take it. In the end, Tursunov proved me right.” Even without their best player, world number five Nikolay Davydenko, the Russians had been hot favourites against a team who have only one player, Hanescu, in the world top 100.

Safin beat the 123rd-ranked Crivoi 7-6 6-4 6-4 in Friday’s opener and Mikhail Youzhny crushed Hanescu 6-4 6-2 6-4 in the second singles rubber to put Russia ahead 2-0.

The unheralded Marius Copil and Horia Tecau, with a combined doubles ranking of 733, came back from two sets down to shock Safin and Tursunov 4-6 6-7 7-6 7-6 6-4 on Saturday and give the home team their first point.

CZECH REPUBLIC 3-2 FRANCE

World number 18 Radek Stepanek beat number eight Gilles Simon 7-6 6-3 7-6 to secure a win for the Czechs over France in their Davis Cup world group first-round tie.

The Czechs, who finished off the victory 3-2, will play Argentina, who beat the Netherlands, in the quarter-finals in July.

The home side had been level with nine-times champions France after Friday’s singles but pulled ahead after Saturday’s doubles when Stepanek and Tomas Berdych overpowered specialist Michael Llodra and Richard Gasquet 6-3 1-6 6-4 6-2.

“I felt completely different than against Tsonga on Friday,” said Stepanek, who had lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the opening singles. “Yesterday’s doubles poured a lot of power and confidence into my veins.

“I tried to attack and play my colourful style because Simon did not play as fast as Tsonga so I had time to do it,” he said after a standing ovation from some 7,500 fans.

Stepanek, 30, pulled ahead of Simon, 24, at the beginning of the second set, when his French opponent lost his first serve, and won in two hours 35 minutes, giving the Czechs an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Simon lost to Berdych 7-6 4-6 7-6 6-3 in their closely-contested opening match on Friday.

“You should never forget a weekend like the one I just had,” Simon said. “You need to ask yourself the right questions, in order to be ready when facing a similar situation in the future.”

Tsonga provided a little consolation for the French side, beating Jan Hernych, who played in place of Berdych, 6-2 6-7 7-6 in the final, dead singles rubber.

The Czechs have not won the cup since 1980 when they were still part of Czechoslovakia but have been mainstays of the world group in recent years and have beaten such powers as the United States and Spain.

SWEDEN 2-3 ISRAEL

Israel beat seven-times champions Sweden 3-2 in the Davis Cup first round after a heroic five-set win by Harel Levy over Andreas Vinciguerra behind the closed doors of the Baltic Hall.

The three-day tie was overshadowed by security concerns with host city Malmo deciding to close the hall to the public, and only some 400 media representatives, sponsors and guests witnessed the drama of the deciding rubber.

Levy triumphed 6-4 4-6 6-4 3-6 8-6 after a nerve-racking, roller-coaster fifth set in which both players failed to convert important points.

Levy fought off break points with some gutsy play at 4-4 and 5-5. Leading 6-5, the Israeli had a match point that Vinciguerra saved with a rare serve-and-volley approach.

At 7-6, Vinciguerra saved another match point at 30-40 in the same manner but moments later the Swede blew a simple forehand to give Levy the match.

It was sweet revenge for the Israelis, who lost to the Swedes at the same stage last year in Tel Aviv. The win put them into the Davis Cup quarter-finals for only the second time, after they went through in 1987.

Israel face Russia in the last eight on July 10-12.

Earlier on Sunday, Dudi Sela had brought Israel back to 2-2 by defeating Thomas Johansson 3-6 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-2. Sela, Israel’s top-ranked team member, had beaten Vinciguerra in five tough sets on the opening day.

Johansson, the 2002 Australian Open champion who came back to competition this weekend after a four-month injury lay-off, started strongly but clearly tired in the fifth set and also had to cope with a sore back.

Sweden captain Mats Wilander paid tribute to Johansson and the injury-plagued Vinciguerra.

“In many ways, this is a heavy loss. But in some ways it’s not heavy, the way I’ve seen both Andreas and Thomas fight,” he said.

“You almost feel bad as a coach demanding them to win when they’re both so far away from their normal level…Sure we lost, but we lost honourably.”

Malmo’s decision to shut out fans was severely criticised by the ITF and the Israeli players.

Around 1,000 police officers have been on duty in the southern harbour city, which has a large Muslim community.

On Saturday, more than 6,000 protesters demonstrated against Israel’s participation in the competition outside fences surrounding the Baltic Hall.

The event was the second time that a Davis Cup tie had been closed to the public. In 1975, also in Sweden, Bjorn Borg and his team mates beat Chile, ruled at the time by dictator Augusto Pinochet, in Bastad.