Switzerland leads Serbia 2-0 in first round tie

NOVI SAD, Serbia: Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka won their singles matches on Friday to give Switzerland a convincing 2-0 lead over Serbia in their World Group first-round tie.

Returning to Davis Cup tennis, Federer cruised past Ilija Bozoljac, winning 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in less than two hours. Federer faced little challenge from Bozoljac, who served well but still was no match for his Swiss opponent.

Australian Open champion Wawrinka faced a tougher task against 102-ranked Dusan Lajovic in the second match, before winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7).

Bozoljac began his match against Federer with two aces and had a set point while leading 5-2 in the second. But Federer held serve and broke to regain control over the set.

Lajovic opened his match with a break, but Wawrinka soon broke back and went on to win the set easily. Lajovic then took advantage of several unforced errors by Wawrinka to take the second set.

However, Lajovic missed two set points in the tie break of the fourth before Wawrinka closed out the match.

Switzerland is an overwhelming favorite against Serbia, last year´s finalist and the 2010 Davis Cup champion, which is playing without Novak Djokovic and two other top players.

The second-ranked Djokovic decided to rest after losing to Wawrinka in the Australian Open quarterfinals, while Janko Tipsarevic is nursing a heel injury and Viktor Troicki is serving a 12-month doping ban for failing to appear at a test. That means Lajovic is Serbia´s highest-ranked team member.The winner plays Belgium or Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals in April. (AP)