Germany within one win of ousting Spain in Davis Cup

FRANKFURT, Germany, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Florian Mayer won in five sets to back a Philipp Kohlschreiber victory Friday and put Germany ahead 2-0 in a Davis Cup first-round series against Spain.

Kohlschreiber opened the best-of-five series by sweeping Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and Mayer followed with a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 win, while recording just one break of serve.

Spain, playing without World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and fifth-ranked David Ferrer, must win the next three matches of the series to advance.

The Germans will attempt to seal the best-of-five series in Saturday doubles when Daniel Brands and Tommy Haas go against Spaniards David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco.

Sunday's reverse singles opens with Kohlschreiber facing Lopez and wraps with a Mayer-Bautista Agut match.

The winner between Spain and Germany gains a quarterfinal spot against the winner of the series sending Australia against France. France is up 2-0 in that series.

Mayer missed out on five break opportunities but used success in the tiebreakers to take a 2-0 set lead. Lopez used the first two breaks of the match to win the third set and four off four more break points in forcing a fifth set.

Mayer -- on his 10th try -- finally finished off a break opportunity and then held on for the 2-0 series lead.

Kohlschreiber didn't allow Bautista Agut a break chance the entire match, winning 72 percent of the points on serve. He converted five of his eight break chances, including two in the final set.