WINSTON-SALEM (North Carolina), April 12: Andy Roddick and James Blake gave the United States a 2-0 lead over France in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Friday.

Roddick appeared to be on a mission, firing 30 aces en route to a 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 win over Michael Llodra in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

James Blake extended the lead for the Americans, who were presented on Friday with championship rings by the US Tennis Association for winning last year’s Davis Cup, when he beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the second rubber.

The French were without their more celebrated players.

Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was ruled out with a knee injury and French number one Richard Gasquet was relegated to spectator duties because of a blister on his hand.

Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer gave Spain a 2-0 lead over Germany in their quarter-final tie in Bremen and the twice former champions now need to win only one of their three remaining matches to progress to a possible semi-final against the Americans.

The other last-eight ties were evenly poised after Argentina and Sweden split the opening day’s singles and Marat Safin revived memories of his glory days, producing a stunning comeback win for Russia before the Czech Republic levelled the tie.

Nadal overcame jet-leg to beat Nicolas Kiefer 7-6, 6-0, 6-3, while German number one Philipp Kohlschreiber visibly tired during his 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Ferrer.

Triple French Open champion Nadal, who has had trouble sleeping since flying in from Miami at the start of the week, made a sluggish start but edged an 88-minute first set 7-5 on the tiebreak and went on to win comfortably.

The effects of jet-lag also concerned Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev and he opted to leave out Nikolay Davydenko from Friday’s line-up after the world number four flew in late to Moscow following his triumph in Miami last weekend.

Tarpishchev’s gamble to pick Safin, who has struggled all season and is now ranked 87th in the world, as a replacement proved a masterstroke.

To the delight of the partisan crowd, the former world number one rediscovered his touch in the nick of time to beat Tomas Berdych 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Berdych would have fancied his chances of winning the encounter as he was the in-form player following his run to the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open last week.

In contrast, Safin had won only one match all year — and none since the Australian Open in January.

But the man who scaled the heights of the Himalayas last year was determined to prove that his career was not on a permanent downward slide.

Conjuring some of the magic shots that earned him two Grand Slam titles, he wore down Berdych in just under four hours.

Radek Stepanek, however, made sure the Czechs stayed in contention with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Igor Andreev.

Argentina captain Alberto Mancini’s decision to play Jose Acasuso ahead of the higher-ranked Guillermo Canas and Juan Monaco backfired in Buenos Aires.

After David Nalbandian had given the hosts the lead with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over Thomas Johansson, Robin Soderling ensured honours were even when he thundered past Acasuso 6-0, 6-4, 6-1.

Results on Day One (World Group):

Quarter-finals:

US lead France 2-0

Argentina are tied with Sweden 1-1

Spain lead Germany 2-0

Russia are tied with Czech Republic 1-1.—Reuters