Defending champion Serbia, playing without Novak Djokovic, reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals by beating a stubborn India team 4-1 in their first round series on Sunday.
Viktor Troicki defeated Somdev Devvarman 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 for an unassailable 3-1 lead, and then Janko Tipsarevc defeated Karan Rastogi 6-0, 6-1.
Serbia, which defeated France in last year's final, will next play in Sweden, which beat Russia in the first round.
Troicki, the hero of Serbia's 3-2 victory against France after winning the decisive match against Michael Llodra, said the Sunday singles match was ''psychologically tough for me because if we had gone to a fifth match in the series, who knows what would have happened.''
''The Indian team played real well, and the result doesn't show what was happening on the court over these three days.''
Troicki, ranked 18th, and Devvarman, who beat Tipsarevic in the opening singles Friday, exchanged breaks in their first service games. But Devvarman, ranked 93rd, lost his serve at 4-4, allowing Troicki to seal the set with two consecutive aces.
Troicki broke Devvarman in the decisive 11th game of the third set, and then sealed the match after the Indian player sent a backhand wide.
In the opening singles on Friday, Troicki overcame double specialist Rohan Bopanna 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3 and Devvarman downed Tipsarevic 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (3). In the doubles Saturday, Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac rallied to beat Bopanna and Devvarman 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (10).
''We fought hard, but it wasn't to be this time,'' Devvarman said.
Serbia was without its No. 1 Djokovic, ranked 3rd in the world, who decided to skip the series to prepare for tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, citing fatigue after winning the Australia Open and Dubai titles in recent weeks.
India also had a setback, with experienced doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi withdrawing due to injury.
