SYDNEY: John Peers and Sam Groth clinched the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie for Australia with a doubles win over Slovakia in Sydney on Saturday.
Peers and Groth were taken to four sets by the Slovak pair of Andrej Martin and Igor Zelenay after holding a match point at 5-2 in the third set.
The duo went on to secure Australia's World Group status 3-0 in the 2017 Davis Cup competition with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2) victory in two hours and 21 minutes.
Australia only needed one more win after Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic won their opening day singles in straight sets on Friday.
The 15th-ranked Kyrgios shrugged off recent hip problems to whip through Martin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 while the 21st-ranked Tomic completed a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4 win over Jozef Kovalik.
Australia, who lost to the United States in this year's first round, will now extend their stay in the World Group to four years.
Slovakia, who have come to Australia without their two leading stars -- 31-ranked Martin Klizan and 102-ranked Lukas Lacko -- have not been in the premier group for 10 years.
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