Lleyton Hewitt branded Guillermo Coria an arrogant sore loser after the Argentine unleashed a brutal personal attack on the Australian following their explosive Davis Cup singles rubber in Sydney.

Hewitt outclassed Coria 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 1-6 6-2 to give Australia a 1-0 lead in the quarter-final tie before Argentine No.1 David Nalbandian led Wayne Arthurs two sets to one, 6-3 7-6 (10-8) 5-7 when play was suspended for the day due to the damp nature of the grass court at the Sydney International Tennis Centre.

Meanwhile the other Davis Cup quarter-final rubber between Australia's Wayne Arthurs and Argentina's David Nalbandian has been suspended for the day with one end of the grass court at the Sydney International Tennis Centre deemed too damp and slippery.

Arthurs had just won the nailbiting third set 7-5 after losing the first two 3-6 6-7 to Nalbandian when the umpire and Australian team captain John Fitzgerald agreed to suspend play.

Rain had earlier delayed the match for over an hour and the pair will now complete their match on Saturday from 10am (AEST).

Hewitt's record-extending 27th victory from 32 matches in the green and gold was overshadowed by an astonishing verbal stoush between two of the fiercest competitors in world tennis.

Coria lit Hewitt's fuse with an outburst that made American superbrat John McEnroe look like a choir boy.

"Inside the court, you really feel like killing him," Coria said through an interpreter after their ill-tempered encounter.

"He can be the best player in the world, he can win every tournament, but he cannot behave the way he does - abusing the captain, abusing the other players, abusing everybody."

Just as his countrymen David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas had done at the Australian Open, Coria accused Hewitt of going over the top with his on-court celebrations and spent much of Friday's match mimicking the dual grand slam champion when he won a big point.

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