Australian Open tennis champion Stanislas Wawrinka has lost Switzerland's opening singles rubber in the Davis Cup quarter-finals to Kazahkstan's Andrey Golubev, in an epic four-setter in Geneva.
Swiss number two Roger Federer evened the ledger with a straightforward three-set defeat of Mikhail Kukushkin.
Elsewhere in the World Group quarter-finals, Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek led title-holders the Czech Republic to a 2-0 lead over Japan in Tokyo, while Italy took a 1-0 lead over Great Britain in Naples.
In the other quarter-final, France had a disastrous start against a weak Germany, losing both the opening rubbers in Nancy.