Robin Soderling and Joachim Johansson excelled in front of their home fans to give Sweden a 2-0 lead over Russia in the first round of the Davis Cup on Friday.
Soderling beat Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 before Johansson stunned Teymuraz Gabashvili to win 6-3, 7-6, 6-4.
The fourth-ranked Soderling, a two-time French Open finalist, has won three tournaments already this year and is the highest ranked player in the series.
''I was hitting the ball well, I was moving well and after I got the first break I really felt that I was in control of the match,'' said Soderling. ''It's very nice to see a full house like this and the crowd was cheering me on a lot.''
Andreev, ranked 97th in the world, never came close to causing an upset on the hard court at a packed Borashallen.
If Soderling's win was expected, Johansson's was anything but.
Six years ago, Johansson was ninth in the rankings. But a persistent shoulder injury took the sting out of his serve and almost ended his career.
However, Swedish captain Thomas Enqvist reckoned Johansson, ranked No. 749., looked good enough in training to give the Russians a game.
He did more than that, landing 33 aces and 73 winners on his way to beating the 76th-ranked Gabashvili.
The 3,000 fans inside the arena let out a jubilant roar and rose to their feet and as the 28-year-old Johansson closed out the win.
''It's a great feeling,'' said Johansson. ''I've trained a long time for this.
Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt will face Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn in the doubles on Saturday. Reverse singles are scheduled for Sunday.
