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Holders Croatia holding Davis lead
 Ancic dug deep to recover from two sets down against Juergen Melzer LONDON, England -- Holders Croatia hold a 2-0 lead over Austria, Belarus lead 2004 champions Spain and Russia head the Netherlands after the opening day singles in the Davis Cup first round. Australia and Switzerland, each minus their top players Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt, are level at 1-1 going into Saturday's doubles in Geneva. Croatia lead after Mario Ancic recovered from two sets down to beat Juergen Melzer in a five set marathon lasting over four hours. 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." Meanwhile, Ivan Ljubicic beat Stefan 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 favorite surface. If I play like this few players in the world can beat me," he said. Belarussian Max Mirnyi beat Tommy Robredo in four sets and team mate Vladimir Voltchkov needed only three to overcome David Ferrer as Belarus went 2-0 up in Minsk against a Spain team without Rafael Nadal and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Russia, playing in Amsterdam minus their best player Marat Safin, established a 2-0 lead after Dmitry Tursunov beat Raemon Sluiter in four tight sets and Nikolay Davydenko followed with a three-set win over Melle van Gemerden. Australia's Peter Luczak notched his first Davis Cup win in his second appearance after coming from a set down to beat Michael Lammer 1-6 6-3 6-0 6-3 but Stanislas Wawrinka brought the Swiss level with a 7-5 3-6 6-4 7-6 win over Chris Guccione. France are 2-0 up against Germany after Sebastien Grosjean beat Nicolas Kiefer 7-5 7-6 6-0 to avenge his defeat by the German in the Australian Open last month. Richard Gasquet then hit back to recover from the loss of the opening set to beat Tommy Haas 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-3 in a thrilling five-set battle to give France a commanding lead. 
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