PLAYERS, organisers and fans at the start of yesterday's Davis Cup first round matches held a minute's silence for the victims of the recent earthquakes in Chile and Haïti.

The knock-out round between Spain and Switzerland kicked off on Friday in the La Ribera bull-ring in Logroño (La Rioja), with the first match being played between Nicolás Almagro for Spain and Stanislas Wawrinka for Switzerland.

Various politicians, including the La Rioja regional government's president, Pedro Sanz, took part in the opening ceremony and joined the one-minute silence.

Amongst the other Davis Cup first round knock-out matches being held at the moment, is the one between Chile and Israel, which has still gone ahead, in spite of the earthquake that recently rocked the former.

Spain is the reigning Davis Cup champion, and is currently drawn at 1-1 after the opening two rubbers of the first round match against Switzerland.  Wawrinka, the Swiss number one, in the absence of Federer, beat Almagro 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to take the first match for Switzerland, but Ferrer evened things up later in the evening with a 6-2, 7-6, 6-1 win over Marco Chiudinelli.

The doubles match will be played today, with the remaining two singles matches scheduled for Sunday.