Verdasco seals Spanish Davis Cup win over Swiss

GENEVA, Feb 11 (Reuters) Fernando Verdasco put Spain into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup for the first time in three years today after beating Swiss rookie Stephane Bohli 6-3 6-3 6-2.

Verdasco's comfortable victory gave the Spanish an unassailable 3-1 lead with only one singles rubber left to play and ended his country's fears of a third successive first round exit.

The Spanish world number 33 began today's match as the clear favourite against the Swiss world number 278 who has yet to win a match on the ATP Tour and was only drafted in to play this weekend after a late injury ruled out Swiss number two Stanislas Wawrinka.

Already without world number one Roger Federer, who skipped the opening round to concentrate on his own career plans, the Swiss saw their slender hopes grow even slimmer when Verdasco eased through the opening set with two breaks of Bohli's serve.

The Spaniard, who lost Friday's opening singles rubber to world number 137 Marco Chiudinelli but rallied to take Saturday's doubles alongside Feliciano Lopez, was gifted a further break early in the second set after a long rally finished with Bohli hitting a forehand wide.

Increasingly erratic play from the struggling Swiss put Verdasco in full command of the third set and he wrapped up the match in style with four straight service winners.

After suffering shock first round defeats to Slovakia and Belarus in 2005 and 2006, Spain can now look forward to a quarter-final meeting in April with either the Czech Republic or the United States.

By then the Spanish should also have Rafael Nadal back on the team, following his late pullout with a thigh muscle strain shortly before the start of Friday's opening rubber.

Switzerland will meanwhile be hoping to entice Roger Federer back to the team in time for September's relegation playoffs.

Federer has now missed the opening round of the Davis Cup for three successive years but returned for the playoffs in both 2005 and 2006 to help his country maintain their World Group status.

REUTERS DH VC2110