Kecmanovic puts Serbia ahead against Britain

MALAGA, Spain : Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic fought off Britain's Jack Draper in a hard-hitting baseline duel to give his team a 1-0 lead in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Thursday.

World number 55 Kecmanovic did not face a single break point in a 7-6(2) 7-6(6) victory over his 22-year-old opponent.

Novak Djokovic will have the chance to send Serbia into Saturday's semi-final against Italy by beating Cameron Norrie in the second singles rubber.

Should Norrie spring a huge surprise, the tie would be decided by a doubles.

Kecmanovic, selected ahead of the higher-ranked Laslo Djere, justified captain Viktor Troicki's faith with a rock-solid display which proved too much for Draper.

Italy earlier beat the Netherlands 2-1 to reach the last four.