Geneva: Tomas Berdych won his match Friday to bring defending champion Czech Republic level at 1-1 against Switzerland after the opening singles of their Davis Cup first-round series.

The sixth-ranked Berdych eased to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-1 victory over 289th-ranked Henri Laaksonen on an indoor hardcourt at Palexpo Arena.

Earlier, Swiss team leader Stanislas Wawrinka beat Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Roger Federer is skipping the best-of-five series, while Czech veteran Radek Stepanek is sidelined by injury.

Berdych was unexpectedly stretched to a fourth set by the 20-year-old Laaksonen, a Davis Cup debutant for his adopted country after playing for Finland four years ago.

In Belgium, Viktor Troicki fought back from two sets down to beat David Goffin 1-6, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 and give Serbia a 1-0 lead over Belgium.

Belgium's top player, the 50th-ranked Goffin, easily won the first two sets and only had to hold serve deep in the third for victory. But Troicki, ranked 11 places ahead of him, came back to win.

In Rouen, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet won their opening singles in contrasting fashion to give France a 2-0 lead against Israel. While the eighth-ranked Tsonga had to overcome a sloppy third set to beat Amir Weintraub 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, Gasquet followed up with a far more convincing 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win against Dudi Sela.

Tsonga seemed to be cruising until his shot-making fell apart in the third set, where he made 13 unforced errors as Weintraub broke him twice to get back into the match. Tsonga looked increasingly nervous in the fourth set but was given several reprieves as Weintraub made numerous errors when he went for winners.

Tsonga retrieved two big forehands and earned a match point when Weintraub missed an easy smash, and closed out the victory when the Israeli returned into the net.

The first match was interrupted for about a minute by a handful of fans shouting as Weintraub was serving midway through the second, but it was not clear what the commotion was about.