China's Davis Cup player Wu Di reacts after winning the second set against Australia's Marinko Matosevic in Beijing yesterday.

Wu Di's opening singles victory for China yesterday slowed heavily favored Australia's bid to return to the Davis Cup elite.

Wu beat Marinko Matosevic, making his Davis Cup debut, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to start the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I second-round tie, but Australia split the first-day honors when Wimbledon quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic defeated Zhang Ze 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Australia captain Pat Rafter preferred to leave former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt for the doubles today.

Hewitt and big-serving Chris Guccione face the Chinese pair of Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe.

Hewitt, the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon champion, was left out of the singles to avoid putting strain on a long-standing foot injury, Rafter said.

Hewitt has been the mainstay of Australia's team for more than a decade but a series of injuries and early tournament exits mean he has slipped to 173 in the world rankings, below Tomic and Matosevic.

In Buenos Aires, Juan Monaco and Juan Martin del Potro won easy straight-sets matches to give Argentina a commanding 2-0 lead against Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.

Monaco defeated Kazakhstan No. 1 Andrey Golubev for the third time this year, then Del Potro made short work of his first Davis Cup match in two years by brushing past Mikhail Kukushkin.