London, Sept 22: Great Britain lost their place in the international tennis elite as Greg Rusedski was beaten by Morocco's Hicham Arazi.
Rusedski began the day two sets to one down in the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup World Group play-off.
And despite taking an early break in the fourth set, Rusedski was unable to serve out and eventually went down in a tie-break.
Britain will now play in the Euro/African zone next year while Morocco are promoted to tennis' top division.
Rusedski was hoping to complete an unlikely comeback for Britain after they had fallen 2-0 down in the tie by losing both singles on Friday.
He teamed up with Tim Henman to take the doubles on Saturday, and Henman levelled the tie with a fine victory over Morocco's top player Younes El Aynaoui.
A clearly exhausted Rusedski seemed to have been given a lifeline when play was suspended for bad light on Sunday night.
But the two-sets-to-one deficit proved too much as Arazi completed his 5-7 7-5 7-6 7-6 victory to clinch the tie 3-2.

Bureau Report