Spain stay alive with Davis Cup doubles win

Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez battled to a five-set doubles triumph to keep five-time champions Spain alive in their Davis Cup World Group first-round tie against Canada on Saturday.

Spain, winners of three of the past five editions of the nations tournament and runners-up to the Czech Republic last year, still face a daunting task on Sunday, when they must take both of the reverse singles to turn the tables on the hosts, who take a 2-1 lead into the last day of the best-of-five match tie.

Granollers and Lopez, who won the doubles title at the ATP World Tour finals last November and reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, beat Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-2.

Up two-sets-to-one, Nestor and Pospisil were unable to convert break chances third and fifth games of the fourth set.

Granollers and Lopez, both top-10 doubles players, got the break they needed in the sixth game to lead 4-2 and after pocketing the fourth frame they gave themselves more breathing room with a break in the third game of the fifth.