Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray sprinted through their Davis Cup openers to edge Serbia and defending champions Great Britain closer to a dream quarterfinal showdown.
But their teams are still facing a weekend long battle to set-up that July duel after Kazakhstan and Japan fought back to level their respective first round ties on Friday.
World number one Djokovic showed no signs of the eye infection which brought his run of 17 successive finals to an end in Dubai last week as he brushed past Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in Belgrade.
Djokovic, who led Serbia to the 2010 Davis Cup title, required treatment on his left shoulder although it did not prevent him from securing an easy win over his 200th-ranked opponent.
“The shoulder is nothing and the eye infection is behind me so I am looking forward to playing the doubles on Saturday,” said Djokovic.
Mikhail Kukushkin, the world 79, stunned 23rd-ranked Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 to level the tie at 1-1 as Kazakhstan kept alive their hopes of a fourth successive quarter-final appearance.
On Saturday, Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic are due to take on Andrey Golubev and Nedovyesov in the doubles.
Serbia could face Great Britain in the quarterfinals and Murray did his best to keep that clash on track when he saw off Japan’s world number 87 Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in just 90 minutes in Birmingham.
But world number six Kei Nishikori then avenged one of the worst defeats of his career as he defeated Dan Evans 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3) to bring his country level at 1-1.
Nishikori suffered a miserable straight sets loss to Evans in the pair’s only previous meeting in the US Open first round in 2013.
Murray was playing for the first time since losing to Djokovic in last month’s Australian Open final, opting instead to spend time with new daughter Sophia, born on February 7, and wife Kim Sears.
