In the first rubber, Janko Tipsarevic beat Denis Istomin 6-2 5-7 6-1 6-4 to give Serbia a 1-0 lead over Uzbekistan in their Davis Cup World Group play-off on Friday. Tipsarevic took both his break points in the opening set in front of an eerily empty Belgrade Arena, as Istomin made two unforced errors to hand him a 4-2 lead and then had no answer for the Serbian’s barrage of powerful forehands.

It was a different story in the second, however, as Tipsarevic squandered four break points, including two set points when he was 5-4 and 40-15 up, before Istomin broke him in the 11th game and then held serve to draw level. The Uzbek was applauded by the Serbian crowd for several outstanding sliced drop-shots which left his opponent baffled.

Tipsarevic seemed unbothered by the setback though and broke Istomin twice in quick succession to take the third set 61, having tormented his rival with a combination of cross-court winners and forehands down the line. His performance pleased the vociferous home fans, who gradually started to flock into the 18,000-seater after they were granted free entrance for the duration of the September 18-20 tie.

There was also visible relief within the Serbian team box, including world No. 4 Novak Djokovic, who turned up as a spectator after pulling out of Serbia’s squad to recuperate from a gruelling North America tour, capped by last week’s run to the US Open semifinals.

Both players held serve in the final set until the seventh game, when Tipsarevic broke Istomin with a pair of stinging forehand winners. The Serbian then held his serve to wrap up the match in two hours and 49 minutes.

Viktor Troicki outplayed Farruk Dustove in fine sets - 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6 and 6-2.