Djokovic wins as Serbia reach Davis Cup quarterfinals

Novak Djokovic helped Serbia eliminate top-ranked France to reach the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup Finals on Thursday, setting up a meeeting with Russia.

Britain also advanced despite resting Andy Murray and will face Germany, while Argentina went through as a second-place finisher to take on Rafael Nadal and host Spain.

Australia and Canada had already made it to the last eight and will meet later Thursday to decide the first semifinalist of the revamped team competition.

Djokovic defeated Benoit Paire 63, 6-3 to seal Serbia's victory over France. Filip Krajinovic had beaten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-6 (5) in the first singles, and France picked up its lone point with duo PierreHugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeating Viktor Troicki and the retiring Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4.

Djokovic had a break in the first set and two in the second to clinch his 14th straight Davis Cup singles victory.

"I made some crucial breaks at the right time in both sets," Djokovic said. "It's tough to play Benoit, he is a very talented guy, very unpredictable."

Serbia secured first place in Group A by winning every tie without dropping a set in the singles matches.

Group winners advanced to the knockout stage along with the two best second-place finishers among the six groups.

Argentina was one of those top second-place finishers, along with Russia. France, Belgium, Kazakhstan and the U.S. were eliminated as the other runners-up.

Four of the top six ranked Davis Cup teams failed to advance — France, defending champion Croatia, Belgium and the U.S.

Britain got past Kazakhstan after Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski defeated Alexander Bublik and Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 6-4 in the deciding doubles match.

"It's been another good day for us," Skupski said. "Very proud to get the win today with Jamie. I thought we fought hard. I think we're playing well."

The teams were tied 1-1 in Group E after Kyle Edmund beat Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3 and Bublik defeated Daniel Evans 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Britain decided to rest Andy Murray, who on Wednesday came from behind to win his match against Tallon Griekspoor in three sets.

Germany won Group C by defeating Chile 2-1 thanks to a doubles win by Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies over Marcelo Tomas Barrios and Alejandro Tabilo.

Phillip Kohlschreiber had given Germany the lead by defeating Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-3, but Cristian Garin evened the series with a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (7), 7-6 (8) victory over JanLennard Struff.

"I think we're really excited to be playing them in the quarterfinals," Britain's Jamie Murray said of the matchup against Germany. "I think it's going to be a very evenlymatched tie and really excited to get the chance to go out there and compete again."

The new Davis Cup Finals is being played in World Cup-style with all 18 teams playing in a single venue in the same week. The tournament overhaul is the result of a 25-year partnership between the International Tennis Federation and Kosmos, a group cofounded by Barcelona soccer player Gerard Piqué.

Bautista Agut leaves Davis Cup Finals because father ill

Spain tennis player Roberto Bautista Agut has withdrawn from the Davis Cup Finals because his father is ill.

Bautista Agut left the team on Thursday, a day after defeating Nikola Mektic of Croatia in two sets. Organizers said Bautista Agut returned home because the health of his father deteriorated in the last few hours.

Bautista Agut lost his first singles to Russian Andrey Rublev on Tuesday.

Spain defeated Russia and Croatia to secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the revamped team competition.

The other players in the Spain team are top-ranked Rafael Nadal, Feliciano López, Marcel Granollers and Pablo Carreno Busta.

Davis Cup start times changed to avoid late finishes

Organizers at the Davis Cup Finals are switching to earlier start times to minimize the chance of late finishes.

The change comes after the series between Italy and the United States ended at 4:04 a.m. local time on Thursday, the second latest finish in the history of tennis. Only a few hundred people were present when the Americans clinched the victory in the final doubles match.

The morning and afternoon sessions have been brought forward 30 minutes, with the new start times set for 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) and 5:30 p.m. (1630 GMT). In addition, the time between the first and second singles matches will be reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes, and the doubles match has to start within 30 minutes of the second singles.

Thursday's quarterfinal between Australia and Canada was still set to start at 6 p.m. local time.

Players and fans had already complained about the late finishes after other matches finished well past midnight. Some three-match series took nearly nine hours to conclude, going well into the later sessions and causing long delays.

In the revamped Davis Cup format, teams are facing each other in three best-of-three-set matches on the same day. Previously, the ties were decided over three days with five matches of best-of-five sets.