Blake's comeback, Roddick's 30 aces give U.S. 2-0 lead over France

James Blake's perseverance and Andy Roddick's power gave the United States a commanding lead over France in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

Blake fought off two match points to beat Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 on Friday to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Roddick had 30 aces on the indoor hard-court in a 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) victory over Michael Llodra in the opening match.

The Americans' top-ranked doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan can put the United States into the semifinals against Spain or Germany with a win today against Llodra and Arnaud Clement.

Rafael Nadal beat Nicolas Kiefer, 7-6 (5), 6-0, 6-3, and David Ferrer defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, to give Spain a 2-0 lead over Germany at Bremen, Germany.

In the other quarterfinal matches, Marat Safin defeated Tomas Berdych, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, to help Russia gain a 1-1 split against the Czech Republic at Moscow. Radek Stepanek beat Igor Andreev, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Argentina's David Nalbandian beat Thomas Johansson, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, but Robin Soderling gave Sweden a 1-1 split at Buenos Aires by defeating Jose Acasuso, 6-0, 6-4, 6-1.

Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport set up a semifinal showdown in the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla., by winning quarterfinal matches.

The top-seeded Sharapova defeated 10trh-seeded Alona Bondarenko, 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-2. Davenport, seeded 16th and a three-time Bausch & Lomb champion, advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over eighth-seeded Agnes Szavay.