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With the retirement of World No.1 Novak Djokovic from the opening singles rubber of their Davis Cup World Group semi-final, Serbia had found themselves in a quandary, going 2-0 on Day 1 owing to the losses of Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic at the hands of David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro respectively. But the defending champions picked themselves up after the opening day debacle to win the doubles rubber as Nenad Zimonjic and Viktor Troicki defeated the Argentine pairing of Juan Ignacio Chela and Juan Monaco in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-2.

The first set went on serve and found its way into a tie break with neither pair willing to concede an inch to the other; evident by the complete absence of break point opportunities. The Serbians raced to a 3-0 lead in the breaker, only to be pegged back to 3-2 to level proceedings. Yet at 5-4, a burst of aggression won them the next two points and took the Serbians past the finish line to take the set. It looked like the Argentinians were mounting a serious comeback as they broke Zimonjic's serve in the third game of the second set and went on take a 4-1 lead. But the Serbians rallied to win the next five games in a row and take the set 6-4.

Hung over by the loss of two sets, the Argentine duo began the third slowly, with Chela conceding the break in the opening game. The Serbians gave their opponents no leeway on serve and managed to clinch the insurance break in the 7th game to lead 5-2 and serve out the set 6-2, to round up a one sided encounter.

Serbian captain Bogdan Obradovic will be buoyed by this victory, especially with Novak Djokovic set to return for the reverse singles encounter to help his country muster a challenge. His counterpart Tito Vasquez however, will be banking on David Nalbandian to defeat Janko Tipsarevic knowing, the kind of form Djokovic is in at the moment.

ARGENTINA leads SERBIA 2-1

Venue: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, SRB (hard – indoors)

David Nalbandian (ARG) d. Viktor Troicki (SRB) 64 46 62 63

Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) d. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 75 63 64

Viktor Troicki/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) d. Juan Ignacio Chela/Juan Monaco (ARG) 76(4) 64 62

Viktor Troicki (SRB) v Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)

Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) v David Nalbandian (ARG)