Birmingham (Alabama), March 9 (DPA) Andy Roddick fulfilled his role as the US Davis Cup closer Sunday, defeating Swiss Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to lead the hosts into the World Group quarter-finals 3-1.
It marked the 11th consecutive time that the world No.6 had taken his side to a win from a 2-1 start. Roddick now stands 31-11 in Davis Cup play with 22 home wins and a nine-match home winning streak.
Roddick never lost serve during the weekend and faced just one break point. He becomes the US player with the second-highest total of Davis Cup singles wins on 31, behind John McEnroe.
'It's really an honour. We have a great team,' said Roddick. 'We really play for each other.'
The US team travels in July to Croatia, where they play the only nation against whom they have a losing record at 0-2. In Benidorm, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer lifted holder Spain into the last eight 4-1 over visiting Serbia.
Nadal continued his mastery over world No.3 Novak Djokovic, defeating the Serb 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 to post his 11th victory from 15 matches played in that series.
Ferrer, who beat Djokovic on Friday after losing to the Serb a week ago in the Dubai final, ended the weekend for the hosts at this Mediterranean high-rise resort city with a defeat of Viktor Troicki 6-0, 6-3.
Nadal, the four-time Roland Garros champion, showed his pedigree on clay with his 124th victory on the surface against just three defeats.
'I played better than my first match,' said the satisfied world number 1. 'My game felt much more secure.'
Nadal came through in front of 14,000 in just under two and a half hours as he now prepares to shift to US hard courts from mid-week at California's Indian Wells Masters 1000.
The tie had been blown away Friday by high winds, which damaged the stands, but teams got the job wrapped up in two days to ensure that players would have plenty of travel time to reach California.
Djokovic admitted that he was well and truly beaten by Nadal.
'He's the most dominant player on earth. He pushes you and forces you to fight for each point,' Djokovic said. 'It's no wonder that he's number 1.'
In Malmo, Israel overcame host Sweden in the fifth set of the fifth rubber, with unfancied number 241 Harel Levy outlasting Andreas Vinciguerra 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 in three and a half hours.
Dudi Sela had pulled the visitors level 2-2 behind closed doors, with his defeat of Thomas Johansson 3-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Johansson was playing for only the second time as he comes back from an Achilles tendon problem and had played five sets Friday in a victory to start the tie.
The Czech Republic closed out a 3-2 win over France at home in Ostrava with Radek Stepanek clinching it over Gilles Simon 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 7-6 (7-0).
France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga earned a consolation win as he beat Jan Hernych 6-2, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-0).
Croatia finished off a 5-0 whitewash of Chile to set up a July quarter-final against the United States.
Russia beat Romania 4-1 away through wins from Dmitry Tursunov and Teimuraz Gabashvili as Marat Safin rested on the final day after Tursunov secured victory.
Losing 2008 finalist Argentina finished off the Netherlands 5-0 in Buenos Aires as the South Americans played without top players Juan Del Potro and David Nalbandian.
In the ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, returning veteran Nicolas Kiefer claimed the tie for Germany with a defeat of Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4.
Koubek struck back over Christopher Kas 6-2, 6-3 as his side lost 3-2.
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