Italy and France were first through to the quarterfinals after beating weakened visitors Switzerland and Canada respectively.
Italy took nearly eight hours to win the opening singles on Friday in Pesaro, so captain Corrado Barazzutti decided to give his best pair a chance to clinch the tie instead of giving a debut to Marco Cecchinato.
Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi, who won the Dubai title last week, beat tired singles players Marco Chiudinelli and Henri laaksonen 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in less than two hours on the indoor clay court to help Italy reach its third quarterfinal in four years. With an unbeatable 3-0 lead, they awaited Argentina or Poland.
The Swiss were without Federer and Wawrinka.
France paired unused singles players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet for a third time in the cup to seal victory against Vasek Pospisil and Philip Bester 7-6 (4), 6-1, 7-6 (4) in Guadeloupe.
Canada couldn’t make up for the absence of Milos Raonic and Daniel Nestor.
Poland, making its debut in the World Group, prevented Argentina from winning their tie when lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski beat Carlos Berlocq and Renzo Olivo 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Britain beat Japan
BIRMINGHAM: Andy Murray recovered from losing a two-set cushion to beat Kei Nishikori and give defending champion Britain an insurmountable 3-1 lead over Japan in the first round of the Davis Cup on Sunday.
Murray won 7-5, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 for his 14th straight victory in theDavis Cup, earning Britain a quarterfinal match against Serbia or Kazakhstan in July.
The grueling contest lasted almost five hours and proved a tough ask for Murray, playing his third match in as many days in his first event back after five weeks off. He became a father on Feb. 7.
Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic rallied to beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 as Serbia leveled 2-2 against Kazakhstan in their Davis Cupfirst-round tie Sunday.
Top-ranked Djokovic, recovering from an eye infection but also struggling with apparent thigh problems, fought back in the 4-hour, 57-minute match played before the final rubber of the five-match series.
“This is probably the most psychologically and physically difficult match in my career, “ Djokovic said. “Kokushkin played so well that he probably deserved to win.”
Czechs beat Germany 3-2
lukas Rosol defeated 18-year-old Davis Cup debutant Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 to book a place for the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over Germany on Sunday.
Earlier, Philipp Kohlschreiber leveled the first-round tie at 2-2 after Tomas Berdych retired due to a right thigh injury with the German leading 6-3, 7-5.
US into quarterfinals
John Isner defeated Australia’s Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4) on Sunday to clinch a 3-1 victory in the World Group first-round tie on grass at Kooyong.
Isner, who beat Sam Groth on Friday in the opening singles match, finished the match against Tomic with a service winner and ace.