Paris: World number one Novak Djokovic powered Serbia into the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, while France also advanced.

Djokovic’s Serbia took an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Croatia, while France ensured a victory over Germany in World Group first-round play.

But defending champions Switzerland, missing big guns Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, face being dumped out of the team tournament in the first round as Belgium took a 2-1 advantage by winning the doubles in Liege.

The United States kept their hopes alive against Great Britain in Glasgow despite Mike and Bob Bryan, the top doubles team in the world, being pegged back to two sets all after winning the opening two frames against Jamie Murray, the brother of Davis Cup teammate Andy Murray, and Dom Inglot.

The twins kept the Americans in the contest ahead of Sunday’s singles with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (8/10), 9-7 victory.

Andy Murray, the world number five, and James Ward, ranked 111, had gotten Britain off to a 2-0 start on Friday.

There were early celebrations in Kraljevo after Djokovic came in as a last-minute doubles replacement for Viktor Troicki and, alongside Nenad Zimonjic, convincingly beat Marin Draganja and Franko Skugor 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

The Serbian pair needed less than two hours to advance, despite a scare in the second set when Djokovic was treated for a blister on his right hand.

“We wanted to finish the job today, to take advantage of the fact that we won the first singles and that was done,” said the 27-year-old Djokovic.

Serbia will next face either Brazil or Argentina.

Brazil seized a 2-1 lead in Buenos Aires after Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares defeated Diego Sebastian Schwartzman and Carlos Berlocq 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in doubles.

In Frankfurt, France assured themselves of a quarter-final berth when Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut posted a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 doubles success over Benjamin Becker and Andre Begemann.

Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils had put France 2-0 up after beating Jan-Lennard Struff and Philipp Kohlschreiber respectively on Friday.

“It’s been the perfect weekend in terms of results and for the doubles pairing,” said France captain Arnaud Clement, whose side lost the 2014 final on home soil against Switzerland.

“We have seen in the past how difficult it can be for teams to play well again having reached the final the year before, so it was important to see the enthusiasm in this first match.”

Germany have now lost all eight Davis Cup matches against the French dating back to 1938.

In Ostrava, the Czech Republic kept their hopes alive 2-1 with Jiri Vesely and Adam Pavlasek beating Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt and Samuel Groth 1-6, 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in the doubles.

The Australians had been 2-0 up overnight after teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis stunned top Czech Lukas Rosol 4-6, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3, with Bernard Tomic then seeing off Jiri Vesely 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

The winner will meet either Italy or Kazakhstan.

Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli gave the Italians a 2-1 lead in Almaty, the Australian Open champions beating Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-7 (13/15), 6-4 in a match that lasted three hours and 18 minutes.

In Liege, Belgian doubles pairing Ruben Bemelmans and Niels Desein saw off Adrien Bossel and Michael Lammer 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to put the hosts on course for their first quarter-final in eight years.

The winner will face either Canada or Japan.

Canada were in control in Vancouver after Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil outlasted Japan’s Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to put the hosts up 2-1.