Almagro routs Melzer to give Spain 1-0 lead

CASTELLON, Spain (AP)â€"Nicolas Almagro routed Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in the opening singles match Friday to give Davis Cup champion Spain a 1-0 lead over Austria in the quarterfinals.

Almagro, Spain’s No. 2, broke Melzer five times in an outdoor clay match that the 12th-ranked Spaniard dominated, winning in under two hours to put the hosts on course for a 23rd straight win on home soil.

Fifth-ranked David Ferrer, who is 12-0 in clay singles play, can double the five-time champions’ lead with a victory over 139th-ranked Andreas Haider-Maurer in Friday’s second singles match.

The 21st-ranked Melzer saved three break chances to hold his opening serve, but was barely in the match until the third set. Melzer fired long for the Spaniard to seal the first set in just 33 minutes.

“He was nervous, at the start you could see he was tense,” said Almagro, who won 15 straight points to close the first set and open the second, when he went ahead thanks to an opening break of the Austria No. 1’s serve.

Almagro led 4-0 before closing out the second set with one of nine aces.

Melzer’s racket was left mangled after he smashed it into the clay in frustration after Almagro broke again to open the third set.

While the former French Open semifinalist found better form over the final set, Almagro never faced a break point and overpowered his opponent with a serve to take it on his fifth match point.

“I knew I’d have chances and in the end I felt very comfortable,” said Almagro. “It may have been my best (Davis Cup) match, but it was a difficult match.”

Spain’s last loss on clayâ€"24 series agoâ€"came to Brazil in 1999.