Paris: Austria kept their hope alive of reaching the semifinals of the Davis Cup after they picked up a doubles victory over Spain in Castellon.

Austrian pair of Oliver Marachand Alexander Peya helped them reduce the gap to 1-2 after they defeated Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (14/12.

Spain who won both their singles matches would now have to wait for Sunday when Jurgen  Melzer takes on David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro squares off against Haider-Maurer in the reverse singles.

Meanwhile, in Prague, the Czech Republic took a 2-1 lead over Serbia, after Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych  cruised past Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) and Bob and Mike Bryan of USA defeated  Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau of France 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).

By Indian Sports News Network