Former world number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero, helped Spain to secure a place in the Davis Cup semifinals, defeating Germany’s Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 9 in the deciding match of the Davis Cup quarterfinal between Spain and Germany.

The German visitors had threatened to oust the Spaniards from the tournament when Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Fernando Verdasco in the first reverse singles fixture on Sunday.

It was left to Ferrero to secure Spain’s final point, and the former world champion did so with aplomb, defeating Beck in straight sets. Spain will now meet surprise package, Israel, in the semifinals of the 2009 Davis Cup.

“It’s been a long time since I was in the team because we are blessed with such a lot of great players,” Ferrero told the Washington Post after the match. “Playing the last match is always hard and we suffered right down to the last point but I am over the moon.”

Spain are likely to field a significantly strong side when they appear in the 209 Davis Cup semifinals, with Rafael Nadal expected to recover from the knee injury that kept him out of his side’s quarterfinal encounter with Germany.

The Czech Republic completed a weekend of stunning Davis Cup upsets by eliminating last year’s finalists from the tournament on Sunday.

The Davis Cup quarterfinal between the two teams was only decided in the final match of the rubber, when Radek Stepanek beat Juan Monaco 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-2 to clinch a 3-2 win for the Czech Republic. The Czech team will face Croatia in the Davis Cup semifinals.

“It’s unbelievable,” Stepanek told reporters after the match. “And this is not the end. We’ll do all we can to get even further. I want to succeed in Davis Cup so much. We’ll fight in Croatia to advance to the final.”

The Czech Republic have not reached the semifinals of the Davis Cup since 1996. The home team were underdogs going into a Davis Cup quarterfinal against an Argentinean team packed with world-class players.

The Czech Republic will have home advantage when they face Croatia in the Davis Cup semifinals later this year.

Croatia clinched a place in the semifinals of the 2009 Davis Cup on Sunday, defeating the United States 3-2 in their Davis Cup quarterfinal.

The Croatians sealed the victory in the fourth match of the rubber, as Marin Cilic defeated James Blake 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. The final match of the rubber went to the United States, but the result had already been sealed.

Croatia’s victory earns them a spot against the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup semifinals later this year.

“It was one of the best matches in my career. It is a great honour to play for your country,” Cilic said after the match. “Blake was an excellent opponent, but I managed to play at a high level. I was attacking all the time.”

The United States suffered from the absence of Wimbledon finalist, Andy Roddick, during the Davis Cup quarterfinal. The American withdrew from the tournament at the last moment, citing a hip injury sustained during his epic Wimbledon final clash with Roger Ferderer.

The Davis Cup quarterfinals appear destined to produce some earth-shaking upsets after both Israel and Croatia stormed to early leads in their respective quarterfinals on Friday.

Heroic performances my Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic saw the Croatians take the first round of singles matches against the United States 2-0. Cilic required 5 sets to put away Mardy Fish, while Karlovic also needed 5 sets to defeat James Blake 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5.

There were even bigger upsets afoot in Tel Aviv, where Harel Levy and Dudi Sela of Israel saw off Igor Anreev and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. The Israelis require just one more victory to seal their first ever Davis Cup semifinal appearance.

Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich will take on Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn on Saturday in the doubles tie of their 2009 Davis Cup quarterfinal. Ram and Erlich are former Australian Open doubles title winners and should have the edge over their Russian rivals.

Meanwhile, the quarterfinal between Spain and Germany saw the sides level 1-1 going into the weekend. Argentina were also level with the Czech Republic with 1 point apiece after the two nations traded blows in the singles matches on Friday.

The Czech Republic’s slim hopes of defeating Argentina in their Davis Cup quarterfinal this weekend have taken a further battering with news that top player, Radek Stepanek, will miss the clash due to an injury.

Stepanek had originally been selected to play form Argentinean youngster Juan Martin de Potro in a crucial singles match, but was forced to withdraw from the match after suffering a knee injury. Ivo Minar will take over his duties for the match.

“Radek has been having knee problems the whole week,” team captain Jaroslav Navratil told Sky Sports. “We decided that he would not play on Friday because there would be too much burden.”

The Czech team is hopeful that Stepanek will recover in time to take part in the doubles match on Saturday, where he would play alongside Lukas Dlouhy. Stepanek may also make an appearance in the final singles match of the quarterfinal if fitness permits.

Meanwhile Russia’s Marat Safin has learnt that he will not be playing any singles matches when Russia take on Israel in their Davis Cup quarterfinal. The former world number one will instead play in Saturday’s doubles fixture.

Israel will be looking to qualify for its first-ever Davis Cup semifinal when it takes on Russia in the Davis Cup quarterfinals this weekend.

The Israeli team are underdogs going into the encounter against a strong Russian team packed with experienced Davis Cup campaigners like Igor Andreev and Marat Safin.

The Israeli team has reached the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup on only one other occasion, when they met India in the quarterfinals of the 1987 Davis Cup only to lose every game.

However, the Israeli team is buoyant about their prospects after inflicting a surprise defeat on Sweden in March. The good form of top player, Dudi Sela, is also contributing to Israeli optimism ahead of the event.

The Israelis can also bank on a strong doubles partnership in the form of Australian Open doubles title winning pair, Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich.

“I think we will give the team the point it needs from the doubles match,” Ram told Reuters. “We can’t wait to start and play.”

Rafael Nadal will be absent from the Spanish Davis Cup team when they take on Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals starting in Marbella later this week.

The defending champions will be represented by Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Feliciano Lopez. Ferrero was an 11th hour replacement for David Ferrer, who is believed to have strained a leg muscle in his left leg.

Ferrero has not represented the Spanish Davis Cup for four years. The Spaniard helped Spain to win Davis Cup titles in 2000 and 2004.

Germany, meanwhile, will be weakened by the absence of Wimbledon semifinalist, Tommy Haas. The Germans will go into the contest with Philipp Kohlschreiber, Nicolas Kiefer, Mischa Zverev and Andreas Beck.

Meanwhile, Argentina have also had to juggle personnel following David Nalbandian’s withdrawal from the Argentinean Davis Cup squad. Nalbandian is recovering from hip surgery, and was replaced in the Argentinean team by Leonardo Mayer.

Andy Roddick has pulled out of the United States Davis Cup quarterfinal clash with Croatia later this week.

Roddick had been due to help the United States qualify for the Davis Cup semifinals. However, in the aftermath of a grueling Wimbledon final that saw him lose to Roger Federer in an epic 5th set, Roddick has pulled out of the Davis Cup citing a hip injury.

Roddick was seen slipping in the 8th game of the 5th set, and it is believed that he sustained a hip injury at this time. Roddick has played 18 consecutive matches for the American Davis Cup team in recent months.

“Andy has been a stalwart for this team the past nine years, and his dedication to Davis Cup and his team-mates is unquestioned,” US captain Patrick McEnroe told Sky Sports.

“Andy had a great run at Wimbledon. He battled for more than four hours yesterday and fought hard to reach the final. Understandably, his body is not up for the rigours of Davis Cup in such a short turnaround.”

Mardy Fish will take Roddick’s place in the American team for the weekend’s Davis Cup clash.

David Nalbandian may miss the remainder of the 2009 tennis season after it was revealed that he may require surgery to repair his hip injury.

The Argentinean withdrew from the semifinals of the 2009 Barcelona last week after injuring his hip in the semifinals. Nalbdandian will undergo non-surgical treatment this week in an attempt to solve the problem.

However, should the injury not respond, Nalbandian will require surgery on his right hip and would most likely miss out on an appearance in the Davis Cup quarterfinals against the Czech Republic in July.

The Argentinean is considered to be key to Argentina’s Davis Cup hopes, and as one of the team’s highest ranked players, played a key role in taking his team to the Davis Cup final in 2008.

Nalbandian is expected to announce whether or not he’ll be undergoing surgery before the end of the week. The Argentinean is already virtually certain to miss out on the 2009 French Open.

The Australian Davis Cup team has sparked controversy by withdrawing from its upcoming away tie against India.

The decision was made due to concerns over the security of the Australian Davis Cup team in a country still recovering from terrorist attacks that hit Mumbai in November of 2008.

A recent attack against the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan demonstrated the risk to sports teams travelling in the region.

Australia had originally requested the International Tennis Federation to reschedule the event, however this request was rejected by the ITF. India have been handed victory in the tie by forfeit.

“We asked for the tie to be moved because we have major security concerns for the players,” Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard told the UPI.

“It would be irresponsible of us to send our players into an area of such high risk. Davis Cup is very important to us, but some things are more important than tennis.”

Australia’s decision to forfeit the match may result in further sanctions being applied by the ITF to the Australian Davis Cup team.