Argentina crush Britain to reach last eight

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - David Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso did not let a rain delay prevent them from sweeping past Jamie Murray and Ross Hutchins 6-2 7-6 6-0 to give Argentina a winning 3-0 lead over Britain in their Davis Cup tie on Saturday.

The Argentines, who also easily won the opening's two singles rubbers at Parque Roca on Friday against a Britain team missing injured leader Andy Murray, will now face either Sweden or Israel in the quarter-finals in April.

The home pair opted for power over tactics against doubles specialists Jamie Murray and Hutchins.

"We had to win it today and I think we played well, apart from the end of the second set," world number nine Nalbandian told reporters.

In the opening set, Acasuso was forced to save three break points with Argentina leading 3-2. But after producing four aces and two service winners, he increase the lead to 4-2 and cleared the way for the hosts to bag the set 6-2.

Jamie Murray and Hutchins gave their all in the second set, losing the tiebreak 13-11, before crumbling in the face of the far more experienced and higher ranked Argentines in the third set.

"I think the second set was high quality for both teams," said Murray.

All British hopes were extinguished in the flash 27-minute third set, interrupted by a 45-minute rain delay.

Hutchins seemed to be the weaker link in the British pair failing to win his serve five times out of seven.