A tearful Paul-Henri Mathieu buried his Davis Cup demons on Sunday to lead France into the quarter-finals with an emotional victory over Thomas Johansson.
The 22-year-old Mathieu, who blew a two-set lead in the decisive match of the 2002 final against Russia, survived the loss of two match points in the third set to beat the Swede 6-1, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 and clinch a 3-2 win in Strasbourg.
His relief was palpable as he blinked tears from his eyes and accepted the hugs of captain Guy Forget and his teammate Sebastien Grosjean who had earlier lost to Joachim Johansson to force the decisive match.
"It was one of those great Davis Cup weekends. Paul-Henri's performance was extraordinary," Forget said.
"Paulo (Mathieu) has made it. He's a great Davis Cup player, I was thrilled by the quality of his game."
Mathieu said: "It was tough mentally when he came back to two sets to one. But I was at home in Strasbourg and I had to look for that victory deep in my heart."
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Australian Open champion Marat Safin sealed the win with a laboured 7-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-7, 6-4 success over Olympic bronze medallist Fernando Gonzalez.
Acutely critical as ever, the brooding Russian was far from thrilled by his performance.
"It was the worst match of my life," he said. "If my serve had been any worse, I would have lost."
Safin said the fast surface, specially laid by the Russians to put the slow-court loving Chileans at a disadvantage, had caused problems for the hosts.
"I think it was not the best decision to choose this surface," he said.
VISITING DUTCH
In Fribourg, the visiting Dutch side squeezed out a 3-2 win over a feisty Switzerland sorely missing world number one Roger Federer.
Sjeng Schalken staged a fifth set comeback to beat Swiss teenager Stanislas Wawrinka 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 9-7 to give the Netherlands an unassailable 3-1 lead.
"It could have gone either way but the key for me was my ability to fight", Schalken said.
The Dutch will travel to Slovakia for the quarter-finals after the Slovaks completed their victory over champions Spain 4-1 in Bratislava.
The Slovaks had ensured their win by Saturday, sweeping to 3-0 as the Spaniards griped and whinged about the fast court put down by the hosts.
Spain, like Switzerland and all other first round losers, must now fight for their top-flight status in play-offs.
The Swiss will be relieved Federer has said he is likely to return for that match later this year.
"GREAT WINS"
In Brasov, hosts Romania overturned a 2-1 deficit to beat last year's semi-finalists Belarus 3-2.
Victor Hanescu beat Vladimir Volthckov 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the fifth and deciding match after Andrei Pavel had earlier beaten Max Mirnyi 6-1, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.
"This was a performance to compare with the great wins by Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac," a delighted Pavel said, referring to his compatriots who were among the world's best in the 1970s.
Hanescu said: "This is much more than I have dreamed of... this victory is the finest of my life."
The Romanians will next travel to Croatia after Ivan Ljubicic stunned Andy Roddick 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 to give his country an unassailable 3-1 lead over the United States in Carson, California.
Ljubicic almost single-handedly dismantled the U.S. squad with victory over world number three Roddick, a three-set destruction of Andre Agassi on Friday and a four-set doubles triumph against the Bryan brothers with Mario Ancic on Saturday.
In the dead rubber, Bob Bryan beat Roko Karanusic 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, but the 3-2 defeat was the first loss for the United States in an opening round tie on home soil in 105 years of Davis Cup play.
In Sydney, Australia completed a 5-0 whitewash of Austria when doubles specialist Todd Woodbridge beat Austrian stand-in Marco Mirnegg 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and teenager Chris Guccione defeated Alexander Peya 6-3, 6-4.
Australia will play Argentina in the quarters in Sydney in July.
Argentina completed their 5-0 demolition of the Czech Republic when Guillermo Coria crushed Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-0 and Agustin Calleri beat Tomas Zib 6-2, 6-4 at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
"Australia will be favourites like we were here," Coria said, looking forward to the quarter-final. "But we are capable of a surprise because we have players like David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas who adapt very well to grass."
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