Australia ousted by Belgium at Davis Cup

Australia got a victory from Lleyton Hewitt on Sunday, but it was not enough to prevent its first-round exit from the Davis Cup by Belgium.

The Belgians won 3-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals with defending champion Russia, which survived a scare at Chile and escaped with a 3-2 victory.

Spain, the United States, Argentina, Germany, France and Sweden also reached the quarters, which will be April 6-8. The pairings are: U.S.-Spain, France-Russia, Germany-Belgium and Sweden-Argentina.

Kristof Vliegen delivered the winning point for host Belgium in Liege, beating Chris Guccione 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the second reverse singles. Earlier, Hewitt kept Australia alive by downing Olivier Rochus 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 3-6, 6-1.

"This is phenomenal," said Vliegen, who beat Hewitt in five sets Friday. "It's the biggest moment of my career _ a dream."

Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez beat Marat Safin 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to put Chile even with Russia in La Serena, but Igor Andreev finished it off by downing Nicolas Massu 6-2, 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-4.

Spain, playing without the injured Rafael Nadal, beat Switzerland 3-2 in Geneva. Fernando Verdasco earned the winning point by downing Stephane Bohli 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

The Americans, which beat the Czech Republic 4-1, got their deciding point from Andy Roddick, who is 8-0 with victory on the line. The fourth-ranked Roddick beat Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

"As far as the weight of the situation goes, it definitely could be one of my best matches on clay," Roddick said.

Bob Bryan earned the final point for the 31-time champions by beating Lukas Dlouhy 7-6 (5), 6-4 in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Also, it was: France 4, Romania 1; Germany 3, Croatia 2; Sweden 3, Belarus 2; and Argentina 4, Austria 1.

Verdasco converted five of eight break points and took advantage of Bohli's 33 unforced errors. Marco Chiudinelli beat David Ferrer 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the fifth match.

The second-ranked Nadal was expected to play in the first round, but he injured a muscle before Friday's opening singles. Bohli, ranked 278th, replaced the injured Stanislas Wawrinka.

Top-ranked Roger Federer ruled himself out of the match in November so he could concentrate on keeping his No. 1 ranking.

Argentina, which lost to Russia in last year's final, clinched the win over Austria when Juan Martin Del Potro beat Juergen Melzer 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in Linz, Austria. Guillermo Canas earned the last point by beating Alexander Peya 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Tommy Haas won the deciding point for Germany at home in Krefeld, beating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-2, 7-6 (7), 6-4. The eighth-ranked Croat had 18 aces, including one on his second serve, but also made 42 unforced errors.

"I'm very proud of my performance. I'm happy I could get the third point," Haas said. "We weren't the favorites. This is very good. We have been very close during the past couple of years but couldn't advance."

Marin Cilic won the fifth match, beating Benjamin Becker 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Richard Gasquet won France's third point at Clermont-Ferrand, beating Andrei Pavel of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 7-5. Arnaud Clement then beat Florin Mergea 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the final match.

Robin Soderling downed Max Mirnyi 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3), 6-3 to give Sweden its third point at Belarus. Vladimir Voltchkov then pulled one back for the hosts by beating Thomas Johansson 6-4, 7-5.