Spain up 2-0 over France in Davis Cup

CORDOBA, Spain, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer posted straight-set victories Friday in giving Spain a 2-0 lead over France in a best-of-five Davis Cup semifinal.

Nadal routed Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in the opening match of the series and Ferrer beat Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 in the second.

Those decisions left France needing to sweep the final three matches to earn a second consecutive trip to the Davis Cup finals.

France sends Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in Saturday's doubles match. Nadal meets Simon and Ferrer goes against Gasquet in reverse singles Sunday.

Nadal, in his win over Gasquet, showed little effect of his tough four-set U.S. Open championship loss Monday to Novak Djokovic. Nadal, who is 9-0 lifetime in ATP matches with Gasquet, didn't face a break point and cashed in seven of his 16 break opportunities. The Spaniard took 79 percent of the points on serve.

Ferrer piled up eight breaks against Simon. He had to deal with six break points -- all in the second set -- and won 55 percent of the points when Simon served.

Spain is looking for a third Davis Cup title in four years. The Spaniards won the event in 2008 and 2009 but were eliminated 5-0 by France in the 2010 quarterfinals.

The Spain-France winner meets the survivor of a series between Argentina and defending champion Serbia. Argentina leads that best-of-five series 2-0. The Davis Cup final is set for Dec. 2-4.