July 8, 2011 -- Updated 1933 GMT (0333 HKT)
Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic had to watch from the sidelines as his team moved towards the Davis Cup semis.
(CNN) -- Davis Cup champions Serbia took a 2-0 lead in the quarterfinal against Sweden on Friday despite the late withdrawal of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Last weekend's Wimbledon winner was due to line up for his country for the first time since last year's final, having missed the first-round victory over India in March.
However, the 24-year-old was unable to play in the day's second singles rubber against world No. 355 Ervin Eleskovic due to a knee problem, meaning that Janko Tipsarevic took his place in Halmstad.
Before Wimbledon, Djokovic pulled out of a warm-up event after his 43-match winning run was ended in the semifinals of the French Open, and he also cited knee worries then.
Tipsarevic led 6-2 1-0 when the debutant was forced to pull out, also with a knee injury, meaning Serbia need only to win Saturday's doubles match to go through to a home semifinal against Argentina.
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The Swedes, without the services of world No. 5 Robin Soderling, made a losing start to the tie when his 297th-ranked replacement Michael Ryderstedt was beaten 6-3 6-1 6-7 7-5 by Viktor Troicki.
Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic face Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt on Saturday, but there has been no decision on whether Djokovic will be fit to play Ryderstedt in Sunday's opening reverse singles rubber. Team captains have until an hour before matches start to make changes.
Argentina went through to the last four for the second year in a row after taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead against Kazakhstan in Buenos Aires.
Juan Ignacio Chela and Eduardo Schwank beat Evgeny Korolev and Yuriy Schukin 6-3 6-2 7-5 in the doubles rubber.
Argentina will host the semifinal if Sweden pull off an unlikely comeback victory.
Last year's runners-up France took a 2-0 lead against Germany in Stuttgart as Richard Gasquet came from two sets down to win the opening singles rubber.
The world No. 11 battled back against 20th-ranked Florian Mayer to triumph 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-3 in three hours and 42 minutes.
"I felt it at 4-4 for the first time," Mayer told the Davis Cup website. "I've never had cramps in my life, and I'd drunk enough, both before and after the match, so it must have been the tension.
"I could barely move in the fourth and fifth sets. It's a very bitter defeat because I was the better player for three sets but couldn't finish it."
World No. 7 Gael Monfils then beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 to avenge his defeat at the Wimbledon warm-up event at Halle last month.
Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can put France in the semis with a win over Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner on Saturday.
France, nine-time winners of the teams event, will face either the United States or Spain if they progress.
The Spaniards will be without world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who is resting following his final defeat at Wimbledon.
Mardy Fish, up to eighth in the rankings after reaching the quarterfinals in London, takes on Feliciano Lopez in Friday's opening rubber in Texas, then Andy Roddick plays world No. 6 David Ferrer.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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