Casablanca (Morocco), Sept 23: Morocco's Hicham Arazi completed a 5-7 7-5 7-6 (9/7) 7-6 (7/5) win over Britain's Greg Rusedski yesterday in the fifth and deciding match of the world group playoff.
Arazi's win means Morocco replaces Britain in the world group - the elite 16 of Davis Cup tennis - and knocks Britain down into group 1 of the Euro-African zone.
The win puts Morocco in the world group for the third time ever. Arazi, ranked 66th in the world, was leading 2-1 in sets before play was suspended for darkness late Sunday. Rusedski, ranked 108, roared into a 4-2 fourth set lead when play resumed yesterday and had four points to gain a double-break, but Arazi pegged him back.
The match then turned in Arazi's favor as Rusedski found himself 5-6 and 0-30 down on his serve, but clawed back, then smashed his 12th ace to force a tiebreaker.

Rusedski saved two match points before Arazi served out the match after 3 hours 53 minutes of intense effort spread over two days.



Arazi's win improved his career Davis Cup record to 26-17, while Rusedski dropped to 22-8. Rusedski now leads Arazi 4-2 in head-to-heads.



Arazi, 29, had beaten Tim Henman in Friday's opening singles - when Rusedski had lost to Younes El Aynaoui, giving Morocco a commanding 2-0 lead.



On Saturday, a straight sets win in the doubles gave Britain hope. Henman put Britain back in the running with a 6-3 6-7 (7/4) 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 victory over El Aynaoui in Sunday's first reverse singles clash, leaving the deciding match for last.


Bureau Report