David Ferrer sealed victory for Spain against Switzerland in the first round of their defence of the Davis Cup this weekend, with an emphatic 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Stanislas Wawrinka.

The Alicante-born player, currently ranked 16th on the ATP circuit, took nearly three hours to accomplish his straight sets victory, coming back from 4-1 down in the second set, when Wawrinka appeared to have taken control of the match.  The Swiss player allowed a series of poor shots to get to him and was deducted a point for racquet abuse at a critical point in the set, after thumping his racquet onto the ground several times, ultimately breaking it.

In the end, physical tiredness as well as David Ferrer got to Warwinka, who had spent four and a half hours longer on court than his opponent during the course of the weekend and Spain raced ahead to a 3-1 lead.

Nicolás Almagro, who lost to Wawrinka in a five-set marathon on Friday, completed Switzerland's demise with a straight sets victory over Marco Chiudinelli in the dead rubber.

Spain now face France in the quarter-finals of the competition and it will no doubt be a stronger Spanish team than this one that takes on the French, who knocked out Germany this weekend.  Even after winning both his singles rubbers, Ferrer knows that he cannot be sure of his place in France in July.

Rubber 1
Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP) 6 4 6 5 3 
Stanislas WAWRINKA (SUI) 3 6 3 7 6 

Rubber 2
David FERRER (ESP) 6 7 6   
Marco CHIUDINELLI (SUI) 2 6 (5) 1   

Rubber 3
Marcel GRANOLLERS / Tommy ROBREDO (ESP) 7 6 4 6  
Yves ALLEGRO / Stanislas WAWRINKA (SUI) 6 (8) 2 6 4  

Rubber 4
David FERRER (ESP) 6 6 6   
Stanislas WAWRINKA (SUI) 2 4 0   

Rubber 5
Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP) 6 6    
Marco CHIUDINELLI (SUI) 1 3