BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: Andy and Jamie Murray edged defending champions Great Britain closer to the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Saturday with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka and Yakutaka Uchiyama.

Just as in their title triumph over Belgium in November in what was Britain’s first Davis Cup triumph in 79 years, the brothers played a starring role.

The win gave the hosts a 2-1 lead and world No.2 Andy Murray can seal the tie on Sunday when he faces Japan’s top player Kei Nishikori, ranked No.6, in the first of the reverse singles.

A quarterfinal against either Serbia or Kazakhstan in July awaits the winners.

Nishikori is the highest-ranked player Murray has ever played in Davis Cup, but he has won five of their previous six matches.

“I played well against him last year. I played him a couple of times. He’s ranked six in the world, so he’s one of the best,” said Murray.

“It’s obviously going to be extremely tough, but I’m playing well and hopefully I can play a good one tomorrow and try and seal the win. But if not Dan is capable of winning his match as well.”

In Belgrade, Novak Djokovic suffered his first Davis Cup defeat in five years when he and Serbian teammate Nenad Zimonjic lost their doubles rubber to Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov on Saturday.

The 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 scoreline gave Kazakhstan a 2-1 lead ahead of the reverse singles on Sunday where the winner will go on to face either defending champions Great Britain or Japan in the quarter-finals.

On Sunday, world No.1 Djokovic will face Mikhail Kukushkin where he will try to keep the tie alive.

The final singles is due to feature Viktor Troicki against Nedovyesov.

Djokovic last lost in the tournament in 2011 — against Juan Martin del Potro through a retirement in the semifinals that Serbia lost 3-2 to Argentina and alongside Zimonjic in a 4-1 win over Sweden in the first round that year.

In the opening match of the World Group tie on Friday, Djokovic, playing for the first time in front of his home fans since the Davis Cup against Croatia in March last year, easily defeated Nedovyesov, the world No. 200, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

Although suffering from minor problems with his left shoulder, Djokovic appeared recovered from an eye infection, which forced him to retire from his Dubai ATP quarterfinal last week, ending his streak of 17 successive finals.

But in the second singles, Kazakhstan fought back to level 1-1, as their top player Kukushkin, the world 79, defeated world No. 23 Troicki 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

Serbia won the Davis Cup in 2010, led by Djokovic.

In Rome, Italy became the first team to reach the quarterfinals when Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi defeated Marco Chiudinelli and Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 for a 3-0 win over Switzerland.

Italy, whose only Davis Cup title came 40 years ago, will face either Argentina or Poland for a place in the semifinals in July.

Switzerland, the champions in 2014, were without star players Roger Federer, who is injured, and Stan Wawrinka, who opted not to play in the tie in Pesaro.