Britain, Spain win through to Davis Cup world group

Claycourt heroics from Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski over the weekend earned Britain a place in the Davis Cup world group with an impressive victory over Ecuador.

They were joined in the top flight by last year's champions Spain, who beat Uzbekistan.

The Cup holders were forced to qualify for the elite group of 16 nations after suffering a first-round defeat in the Netherlands in February.

Ecuador, strong favourites to beat Britain on their favoured clay surface in Guayaquil, were stunned into submission by superb performances from Henman and Rusedski.

Both serve-volleyers mastered the slow Ecuadorean surface to win their opening singles before teaming up to beat the Lapentti brothers Nicolas and Giovanni in Saturday's doubles.

The victory was revenge for the surprise home defeat Britain suffered at the hands of Ecuador on Wimbledon's grass last year.

"We wanted to prove to ourselves that we could beat them on their home soil," Henman said afterwards.

"Greg and I have never been beaten in Davis Cup doubles and we wanted to maintain that record and we certainly did that."

Rusedski, whose victory over Nicolas Lapentti in the opening singles was the highlight of the tie, said: "It was important to get British tennis to where it should be -- in the top-16 in the world -- and hopefully now we can go further."

Wimbledon Champion
British captain Roger Taylor said: "I am delighted and elated that we're back in the World Group again...it is what we were aiming for and now we have to make sure we win our first rounds and stay there."

Also winning a place in the top flight were Croatia as Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic steered his country to victory over Italy.

The left-hander was beaten in his opening match by unheralded Filippo Volandri in five tough sets but Ivan Ljubicic levelled the match with victory over Federico Luzzi.

The Croatians teamed up to beat the Italian pairing of Giorgio Galimberti and Mose Navarra in a five-set thriller and Ivanisevic sealed victory with a 7-6 6-3 6-4 win over Luzzi.

Alex Corretja and Juan Balcells secured Spain's spot by beating Uzbekistan pair Oleg Ogorodov and Vadim Kutsenko 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Sunday.

Spain won the Davis Cup for the first time last year but were forced into a play-off to retain their top flight status after suffering the Dutch defeat on an unfamiliar indoor carpet surface.

Back on clay, though, Spain were predictably far too strong for their opponents in Albacete.

Juan Carlos Ferrero got the home side off to a sure-footed start on Friday as he beat Ogorodov 7-5 6-2 6-4.

Corretja followed that up with a 6-0 6-2 6-7 6-0 success against Kutsenko.

Argentina brushed Belarus aside to secure top flight action next year.

Opening Match
Franco Squillari and Gaston Gaudio got the South Americans off to the best possible start with wins over Vladimir Voltchkov and Max Mirnyi before Guillermo Canas and Luis Lobo beat Voltchkov and Mirnyi in the doubles for an unassailable 3-0 lead.

The Czech Republic came back from an opening match defeat to beat Romania and reach the World Group.

Bohdan Ulihrach lost his opener to Adrian Voinea in five sets but beat Gabriel Trifu on Sunday to give the Czechs victory.

Slovakia joined the Czechs, beating Chile while Morocco beat Belgium 3-2.

The remaining world group qualifier between the United States and India will be played on October 12-14.