Benidorm, Spain  - Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer made up for lost time on Saturday with crushing wins in a delayed Davis Cup World Group tie before Serbia prevented a sweep with a face-saving doubles victory.

Nadal returned to action at a tie postponed by 24 hours due to high winds at the Mediterranean resort, hammering Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 6-0, 6-2.

Teammate David Ferrer followed on in a revenge rerun of last weekend's Dubai final as he made it 2-0 to the defending champion by beating Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 7-6
(7-4).

Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic then combined to prevent elimination for Europe's newest tennis powerhouse, defeating Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7-4), 6-4,
7-6 (9-7).

Nadal, winner of 11 of his previous 12 Davis singles rubbers - including ten in a row - kept his record near-spotless after last losing in the competition in 2004 against Czech Jiri Novak.

The world number 1 showed no sign of the knee problems which forced him to sit out Dubai as he earned the first Spanish points in just over 90 minutes.

Winds which had forced the opening to be scrapped on Friday settled down to a mere breeze, with captains deciding to catch up by playing both singles and doubles on the day.

"It was a very solid performance," said Nadal, who missed November's final over Argentina with problems in his left knee. "But we are right in the middle of the hard-court season and it's not easy playing the first match of the season on clay."

Tipsarevic complained about the state of the slow clay, calling the ambience "more like a beach than a clay court."

Number 12 Ferrer earned quick revenge for his Dubai title loss to Djokovic last Sunday.

Djokovic never found his feet on the clay: "I felt like I was in foreign territory today, I made a lot of unforced errors," said the number 3. "David played solidly and deserved to win."

The weekend winner will face either Germany or Austria in the July quarter-finals. Germany held a 2-1 margin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen thanks to a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-4 doubles result by Nicolas Kiefer and Philip Kohlschreiber over Austrians Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya.

Croatia secured a last-eight place and will wait for Sunday's result of the US versus Switzerland.

Mario Ancic and Marin Cilic combined to clinch success over Chileans Paul Capdeville and Nicloas Massu 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 for a 3-0 result.

Lucas Arnold and Martin Vassallo Arguello won for Argentina over the outclassed Netherlands, defeating Jesse Hute Galungand Rogier Wassen 7-4, 7-5, 6-3.

In other ties, Romanian stayed in touch against Russia 1-2 with a doubles victory while the Czech Republic took the lead in Ostrava with a doubles defeat of Richard Gasquet and Michael Llodra 6-3 1-6 6-4 6-2.

In Malmo, Sweden led Israel 2-1 in the tie being played behind closed doors due to fears of street violence in protest against January's Israeli bombing of Gaza which killed up to 1,300 people. (dpa)