The United States lost an opening-round Davis Cup tie on home soil for the first time in 105 years when Ivan Ljubicic beat two of the world's best singles players as Croatia won 3-2 in California.
Ljubicic defeated Andre Agassi on the opening day of the tie on Friday, and
overcame world number 2 Andy Roddick in a five-set marathon yesterday.
Croatia moves on to the quarterfinals against Romania, which defeated Belarus in the first round.
France 3, Sweden 2
At Strasbourg, France, Paul-Henri Mathieu blew three match points before finally outlasting gritty Thomas Johansson 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 of Sweden to clinch the victory for France.
Sweden tied the match earlier in the day when Joachim Johansson rallied from a set down to beat Sebastien Grosjean 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1. France moves on to play Russia in the quarterfinals.
Russia 4, Chile 1
At Moscow, Australian Open champion Marat Safin beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4 to send Russia into the quarterfinals. Nikolay Davydenko also beat Paul Capdeville 6-2, 6-1.
Russia will play France in July.
Romania 3, Belarus 2
At Brasov, Romania, Victor Hanescu beat Vladimir Voltchkov 7-6 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (6) to put Romania into the quarterfinals. Earlier in the day, top Romanian player Andrei Pavel defeated Max Mirnyi 6-1, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3.
Argentina 5, Czech Republic 0
At Buenos Aires, Argentina, Agustin Calleri and Guillermo Coria easily won to help Argentina sweep the Czech Republic. Calleri defeated Tomas Zib 6-2, 6-4 and Coria beat Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-0. Argentina will face Australia in Sydney in the quarterfinals July 15-17.
Australia 5, Austria 0
At Sydney, Australia, Todd Woodbridge and Chris Guccione both won singles matches to complete a sweep for the home team.
Netherlands 3, Switzerland 2
At Fribourg, Switzerland, Sjeng Schalken defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 9-7 to move the Netherlands into the quarterfinals. In the second singles match, Peter Wessels led Marco Chiudinelli 6-4 but withdrew with a back injury.
The Dutch will meet Slovakia in the next round.
Slovakia 4, Spain 1
At Bratislava, Slovakia, Fernando Verdasco beat Kamil Capkovic 6-2, 6-2 to earn a point for defending champion Spain, which was eliminated the day before by Slovakia. In the other singles match, Slovakia's Michal Mertinak beat Feliciano Lopez 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
Closer to home, New Zealand have a home date with Kuwait.
The United States lost an opening-round Davis Cup tie on home soil for the first time in 105 years when Ivan Ljubicic beat two of the world's best singles players as Croatia won 3-2 in California.
Ljubicic defeated Andre Agassi on the opening day of the tie on Friday, and
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