AUSTIN, Texas — Spain's Feliciano Lopez beat Mardy Fish of the United States to earn Spain a key singles victory in the opening match of their Davis Cup quarterfinal.
Playing as the No. 2 for Spain, Lopez twice let Fish rally back from match point in the fifth set before winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 8-6. Andy Roddick faces David Ferrer in Friday night's other singles match.
Spain is seeking its third Davis Cup championship in four years, but is without world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who is skipping the quarterfinal after losing in the Wimbledon final. Nadal helped Spain win the Davis Cup in 2004, 2008 and 2009.
Lopez served warning the Spanish won't go lightly without their big gun and quieted the raucous home crowd early by taking the first set of a rugged four-hour match.
Ranked No. 31 in the world, Lopez strutted like a matador through much of the four-hour match, wagging his finger at balls that sailed out of bounds and yelling and pumping his fists after winning shots. A small but vocal contingent of Spanish fans cheered him on.
Fish finally rallied the crowd and its chants of "U-S-A!" by tearing through the tiebreaker in the fourth set.
Lopez appeared to be on his heels but slugged out a tense fifth set in which neither player broke serve until the final game. Lopez and Fish combined for 64 aces
In other quarterfinals, defending champion Serbia took a 2-0 lead over visiting Sweden when Viktor Troicki won his opening singles and Sweden's Ervin Eleskovic retired with a knee injury in the second; France led host Germany 2-0 on victories by Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet; Argentina held an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Kazakhstan with a home victory by doubles partners Juan Ignacio Chela and Eduardo Schwank.
In a playoff in Switzerland, Roger Federer beat Portugal's Rui Machado 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to put the Swiss in front 2-0. Federer was playing his first match since losing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. The winning nation advances to a playoff in September to join the 16-nation world group.