U.S. retain top-flight status in Davis Cup

The United States preserved their Davis Cup World Group status at the end of a tense play-off weekend, with three-times champions…

The United States preserved their Davis Cup World Group status at the end of a tense play-off weekend, with three-times champions Germany relegated and Britain's place among the top 16 nations hanging by a thread.

The British duo of Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski had rebounded from a 2-0 first-day deficit to draw level at 2-2 by close of play on Sunday. Rusedski was trailing Hicham Arazi 5-7 7-5 7-6 in the decisive singles match when the match was suspended due to poor light in Casablanca. The decision to suspend the match sparked furious scenes in the Moroccan crowd but gave a shattered Rusedski a lifeline.

Should he manage to regroup and pull off victory on Monday morning, it would be the first time since beating Germany in 1930 at London's Queen's Club that Britain will have won a Davis Cup match from 2-0 down.

In Bratislava, U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick redeemed himself on a painfully slow clay court as the Americans outfought Slovakia to secure their survival. Beaten on the opening day by Dominik Hrbaty, Roddick claimed his first Davis Cup claycourt victory with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over Karol Beck on Sunday to give the U.S. an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the playoff.

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Germany, however, were unable to squeeze out a win against Belarus and were relegated for the first time since 1983.

Jiri Novak beat a low-key Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4 6-4 6-4 to secure the Czech Republic's place in the World Group.

The Dutch comfortably retained their place in the top flight with a 5-0 win over India in Amsterdam while Stefan Koubek steered Austria past Belgium into the World Group.