Roger Federer suffered more Davis Cup disappointment as his Switzerland side were obliterated by the United States inside two days.
With home advantage and a side containing Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, the Swiss were strong favourites against a United States team facing the prospect of competing on their least favourite surface - clay.
However they rose to the occasion to stun everyone and dash Federer's Davis Cup dreams. Mardy Fish set the tone by fighting back to beat Wawrinka 9-7 in the fifth set in the opening rubber before a surprisingly lacklustre Federer slipped to a four set defeat to John Isner, a man who could barely buy a win during last year's clay-court swing.
Switzerland still felt they had a slim chance. After all Federer and Wawrinka won Olympic doubles gold four years ago. However, Fish and Mike Bryan produced another inspired display to triumph in four sets and leave Federer searching for answers.
"I thought we actually played pretty well," said Federer. "It was again a high standard from both sides with not much between us. We had our chances but maybe they were a touch better than us and that shows in the score. We played well for a long time but we had a couple of games when we struggled a bit too much."
The USA go on to face either France or Canada in the quarter-finals.
