Croatia in control

Mario Ancic dug into the reserves that helped him clinch the deciding rubber in last year's final against Slovakia to beat Melzer 6-7 6-7 6-4 6-4 6-3 in the opening singles.

"I am very, very happy to have earned this first point," said a relieved Ancic, while Melzer could not hide his disappointment, saying: "It is very tough. Whenever I had a break point, he served an ace."

Ljubicic beat Koubek 6-2 6-2 6-4 to lift his team to a 2-0 lead as he celebrated his second consecutive victory over the Austrian in Davis Cup play. The world number five dominated the match and left the 300 Croatian fans cheering.

"Currently my tennis is nearly perfect and, contrary to the Austrians' opinion, this is my favourite surface. If I play like this only very few players in the world can beat me," he said.

Vladimir Voltchkov gives Belarus a 2-0 lead over Spain with a shocking 6-3 6-4 6-3 victory over world No. 10 David Ferrer.

Earlier in the day, Max Mirnyi battled for one more set to triumph over Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-7 6-3 6-3.

Meanwhile, Switzerland and Australia are level at 1-1, as Peter Luczak put Australia ahead with a 1-6 6-3 6-0 6-3 win over Michael Lammer before Stanislas Wawrinka, roared on by home fans waving flags, banging drums, hit back to defeat Chris Guccione 7-5 3-6 6-4 7-6.

Australia have defeated Switzerland in each of their three previous Davis Cup encounters but both teams are missing their top players. Roger Federer, the Swiss world number one, is taking a break after his Australian Open win and Australia's world No. 11 Lleyton Hewitt is resting a sore ankle.

Also today, Argentina were 2-0 ahead against seven-times champions Sweden in Buenos Aires after David Nalbandian , the world number four, recovered from a stuttering start to beat Robin Soderling 3-6 6-2 6-4 6-1, before Davis Cup debutant Jose Acasuso defeated Thomas Johansson 6-1 6-1 6-3 in under two hours in Buenos Aires.