ESPN Tennis

LLEIDA, Spain -- Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic won their singles matches Saturday to give Serbia a 2-0 lead over Spain in a Fed Cup World Group playoff series.

Jankovic beat Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 6-4, and Ivanovic rallied to beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to leave Serbia one win away from reaching the World Group for the first time.

"I cannot tell you I played good tennis, but I did enough to win," said Jankovic, who had a cold. "This morning when I woke up I felt, 'Oh God, I cannot move.' But it's a special occasion."

Medina Garrigues will need to beat the fourth-ranked Jankovic in reverse singles Sunday to keep Spain from dropping out of the World Group for the first time.

Ivanovic overcame an error-strewn first set to improve to 13-2 in Fed Cup singles matches. Spain is without its top player Carla Suarez Navarro.

"I had completely the wrong tactics, I was going for my shots way too early," Ivanovic said. "It took me a little time to adjust to the tactics I needed. But I did that really well in the second set and the third set."

Germany 2, China 0

At Frankfurt, Germany swept the opening singles Saturday to take a 2-0 lead over China in the World Group playoffs.

Sabine Lisicki upset Zheng Jie 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, and Anna-Lena Groenefeld rallied to beat Peng Shuai 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to sweep the opening singles Saturday.

The reverse singles and the doubles are Sunday. Germany needs one match victory to clinch the tie.

Lisicki, coming off her first career WTA Tour title in Charleston, S.C., took a 3-0 lead and breezed through the first set over the 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist.

"Once you've won a big tournament, you are more relaxed in tight situations," Lisicki said.

Australia 2, Switzerland 0

At Mildura, Australia, Samantha Stosur and Jelena Dokic had straight-set victories Saturday to give Australia a 2-0 lead.

Stosur beat Amra Sadikovic 6-1, 6-2 and Dokic defeated Stephanie Voegele 7-6 (1), 6-4 on grass courts at the Mildura Lawn Tennis Club.

Stosur didn't lose a point on her serve in the first set.

"I was really happy with the way I played. I didn't make too many errors," she said. "It is good to get off to a good start and hopefully we can keep it going from here."

On Sunday, Stosur plays Voegele and Dokic takes on Sadikovic in reverse singles. Play will conclude with doubles with Stosur and Rennae Stubbs meeting Voegele and 15-year-old Mateja Kraljevic.

The winner advances to World Group II in 2010.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.