Croatia?s Ivan Ljubicic hits a return to Andre Agassi of the US during their Davis Cup first-round tie in Carson, California, on Friday. Ljubicic won 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3. (Reuters)

Sydney: Australia clinched their Davis Cup World Group first-round tie when Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs beat Austrians Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday for an unbeatable 3-0 lead.

The Australians fought back to score a gritty win in a rain-interrupted match after Melzer and Knowle had looked keeping the tie alive going into Sunday?s reverse singles.

Arthurs and Lleyton Hewitt won Friday?s opening singles. Arthurs overcame Melzer 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 and Hewitt outclassed Alexander Peya 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. The Austrian pair looked on course for an upset when Arthurs lost his serve for the first time in the match in the second game of the third set.

The match was interrupted by rain for about 90 minutes when the Austrians led 4-1 in the third. After play resumed, Woodbridge double-faulted to lose serve again and hand Melzer and Knowle a two-sets-to-one lead. But the Aussies grimly held on to force the match into a decider and it was the Austrians who faltered.

In Carson, California, Andy Roddick defeated Mario Ancic 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to help the US draw level with Croatia. Ivan Ljubicic had earlier spoiled Andre Agassi?s return to the competition with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 trouncing.

Ljubicic dominated Agassi with his huge serve and big forehand and rarely allowed the American to break him down off his weaker backhand side.

Champions Spain were teetering on the edge of defeat as they trailed 0-2 to Slovakia. Karol Beck beat Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 and Dominik Hrbaty downed Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 on a lightning-quick carpet court.

Argentina led the Czech Republic 2-0 in Buenos Aires after David Nalbandian beat Jiri Novak 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and Guillermo Coria downed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

France and Sweden were locked 1-1 after Thomas Johansson pulled the Swedes back into the match with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 win over Sebastien Grosjean. Paul-Henri Mathieu earlier gave the hosts the perfect start in Strasbourg with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Joachim Johansson.

Marat Safin took two hours to cancel out Chile?s early advantage in Moscow, Safin defeating Adrian Garcia 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 after Fernando Gonzalez had seen off Mikhail Youzhny 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6.

Romania?s Andrei Pavel squeezed past Vladimir Voltchkov to haul the hosts back into contention after Belarussia had taken an early lead thanks to Max Mirnyi. Pavel took 2-1/2 hours to edge it 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 after Mirnyi had beaten Victor Hanescu 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

The Netherlands eased to a 2-0 lead in Switzerland. (Reuters)