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The United States and Switzerland are tied at 1-1 after the opening day singles rubbers in the Davis Cup first round.

UNITED STATES 1-1 SWITZERLAND

Stanislas Wawrinka served strongly against James Blake to put his side 1-0 up against the US in Birmingham, Alabama.

Wawrinka, Switzerland's top player in the absence of the injured Roger Federer, won through 3-6 6-4 6-3 7-6.

However world number six Andy Roddick evened the score for the former champions by defeating Marco Chiudinelli, ranked 341st, in the second singles.

The American took victory in straight sets 6-1 6-3 7-6 to move into sixth place overall in terms of US Davis Cup wins, level with Andre Agassi on 30.

CZECH REPUBLIC 1-1 FRANCE

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga powered past Radek Stepanek to put France level with the Czech Republic in their first-round tie.

The French team, featuring two of the world's top 11 players even after world number nine Gael Monfils was a late scratch, went into the world-group tie as strong favourites.

However, the Czechs took a surprise lead when Tomas Berdych shut down Davis Cup newcomer Gilles Simon 7-6 4-6 7-6 6-3 in their closely contested, three-hour-26-minute opening match.

Tsonga, pictured, stifled Stepanek in the second match, though, taking a little more than two hours to defeat him 7-5 6-2 7-6.

Nine-times champions France have reached the quarter-finals for the last eight years but they have not gone past that stage in the last four competitions.

RUSSIA 2-0 ROMANIA

Former champions Russia took a commanding 2-0 lead in their tie against Romania after winning both their singles rubbers.

Marat Safin beat Victor Crivoi 7-6 6-4 6-4 in the opener to give the visitors an early lead before Mikhail Youzhny overcame Romanian number one Victor Hanescu 6-4 6-2 6-4.

The 123rd-ranked Crivoi battled hard with Safin early on but after bagging the first set in a 7-5 tiebreaker the former world number one seized control with a break in the seventh game to take a two-set lead.

The big Russian earned another break in the fifth game of the third set before securing victory with his 20th ace in just over two hours.

Youzhny, who has slipped down to number 60 after battling various injuries in the past six months, had little problem against Hanescu, ranked 21 places above the Russian.

Youzhny did not face a break point in the entire match and he broke his opponent's serve four times - once in the first and third sets and twice in the second.

ARGENTINA 2-0 NETHERLANDS

Argentina overcame the absence of their three highest-ranked players to sweep to a 2-0 lead over rank outsiders the Netherlands .

In front of a sparse crowd at the Parque Roca arena, Juan Ignacio Chela beat Jesse Huta Galung 6-2 2-6 6-2 6-7 6-2 in just under four hours to give Argentina first blood.

Juan Monaco, making his appearance since the 2006 final against Russia, then brushed aside Thiemo De Bakker, a player nearly 200 places below him in the world rankings, 6-1 6-2 7-6 in two hours 11 minutes.

Argentina, runners-up twice in the last three years, were without any of the players who lost at home to Spain in last year's final while captain Modesto Vazquez was making his debut after replacing Alberto Mancini.

David Nalbandian withdrew with a viral infection while Juan Martin del Potro, their number one player, and Jose Acasuso were left out by mutual consent and Agustin Calleri was not picked.

Their absence dampened public enthusiasm and there was only a scattering of fans at the 14,000-capacity arena on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires.

Chela squandered several chances to wrap up the first rubber in the fourth set before losing a tiebreak.

However, he cruised through the fifth set after breaking serve in the first game.

SWEDEN 1-1 ISRAEL

Sweden and Israel are level at 1-1 in their first round tie after two five-set marathons were disputed behind doors closed to the public.

In a tie overshadowed by security concerns, Thomas Johansson gave the Swedes the lead in Malmo's Baltic Hall by beating Harel Levy 6-7 6-4 7-5 4-6 8-6 in an error-ridden match of just under four hours.

Dudi Sela, the draw's highest ranked singles player, then came back from two sets to one down to beat Andreas Vinciguerra 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 11-9 in dramatic fashion.

Between 300 and 400 media representatives, sponsors and guests were present in the hall to watch the first day which ended close to midnight when Sela finally wrapped up the second match as Vinciguerra hit a forehand error.

It is only the second time that a Davis Cup tie has been held without spectators. The first was in 1975, also in Sweden, when Bjorn Borg and his team-mates beat Chile, which was ruled at the time by dictator Augusto Pinochet, in Bastad.

Johansson, the 2002 Australian Open champion who was named to the team by captain Mats Wilander just in time for Thursday's draw, often looked slow and tentative and came within two points of losing in the final set.

Serving at 5-6, Johansson double-faulted to 15-30 but got out of trouble with an ace and went on to win the game with a net approach.

The Swede then raised his game and broke Levy to love with a fine backhand passing shot for a 7-6 lead.

Johansson, who fired 26 aces past Levy, wrapped it up in the next game with a perfect serve-and-volley approach on the first match point.

CROATIA 2-0 CHILE

Croatia took a big step towards the world group second round when Mario Ancic and Marin Cilic gave them a 2-0 lead against Chile with emphatic wins in the opening singles rubbers of their tie.

Ancic beat Nicolas Massu 6-3 6-3 7-6 in one minute over three hours before Cilic completed a perfect opening day for the 2005 winners with a 6-1 6-2 6-1 demolition of Paul Capdeville.

Ancic broke Massu in the fourth game of the opening set and never looked back, firing six aces and winning all his second-serve points to take the lead.

He produced more of the same in the second, breaking his opponent's serve twice after being treated for toe blisters before coming back from 5-3 down in the third to take the tie-breaker 7-4 on his first match point.

Although outclassed, Massu frequently complained to the umpire about line calls on the hardcourt surface, with no Hawkeye available, and was joined by Chile's captain Hans Gildermeister.

World number 19 Cilic pummelled Capdeville, ranked 93rd, with a barrage of powerful forehands and took only one hour 33 minutes to win the one-sided contest.

He converted seven of his 11 break points, fired 10 aces and produced several stinging backhand winners to delight the vociferous home crowd in the Zatika Arena.

GERMANY 1-1 AUSTRIA

Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber fought back from two sets down to beat Austrian Juergen Melzer and level 1-1 after the visitors had taken a surprise lead.

Kohlschreiber needed three hours 56 minutes to beat the left-hander 6-7 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-3 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen's Eissportzentrum and keep the hosts in the tie.

Austria, who have never beaten three-time Davis Cup winners Germany in four previous meetings, had stunned the hosts when Stefan Koubek, ranked 255th, beat Rainer Schuettler, the world number 31, 6-4 7-5 5-7 6-2 to grab the lead.

Koubek, who missed much of last season due to a back injury, bagged the first set after breaking the German three times.

Schuettler, in his first Davis Cup appearance since 2006, staged a short-lived comeback but needed six set points to wrap up the third set against Koubek who was stretching him with thunderous backhands.

Cheered on by a few hundred noisy Austrian fans among some 4,000 Germans, with the tie held near the German-Austrian border, Koubek finished off Schuettler when the German sank his return into the net on the first match point after three hours 37 minutes.

Kohlschreiber was also disappointing at the start and fell two sets behind but Meltzer's consistency faltered as the German used his heavy topspin forehand to chase the Austrian across the court.

He wrapped up the proceedings with a backhand winner, leaving the Austrian to rue his missed chances.

SPAIN P-P SERBIA

Friday's singles rubbers in Spain's Davis Cup first-round match against Serbia were delayed until Saturday after high winds made the seating at the purpose-built arena in Benidorm unsafe.

Gusts of almost 90 kph on Thursday caused minor damage to the seating and technicians were unable to work on repairing it on Friday until the wind died down, a Spanish tennis federation spokesman said.

Reuters