Belgians beat Swiss in doubles to lead 2-1 in Davis Cup

LIEGE, Belgium (AP) Belgium took a 2-1 lead against Davis Cup champion Switzerland in their first-round tie on Saturday after Ruben Bemelmans and Neils Desein rallied to beat Adrien Bossel and Michael Lammer 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

Switzerland needs to win both reverse singles on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals.

Roger Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam champion, and 2014 Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka are skipping this best-of-five series after leading their country to its first title in 2014.

The Swiss pairing hardly looked formidable, with Bossel ranked outside the top 1,000 in doubles and Lammer only 765th.

Belgium was also missing its top player after David Goffin withdrew because of a back injury in Friday's opening singles - although the 21st-ranked Goffin could be fit in time to play on Sunday.