Australia has been surprisingly knocked out of the Davis Cup before the finals, with Belgium surviving a Sunday comeback to win the tie 3-2.
The hosts went into day two down 0-2, after Alex de Minaur was stunned by little-known Raphael Collignon and Jordan Thompson fell to world No.46 Zizou Bergs on the opening day of singles.
But Thompson and Rinky Hijikata, after dropping the opening set of the doubles opener at Ken Rosewall Arena, fought back to claim a 6-7(7) 6-3 6-4 win over Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, powered by a red-hot home crowd.
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De Minaur then forced a deciding fifth match of the tie, making amends for Saturday’s shock loss by beating Belgian No.1 Bergs 6-2 7-5.
World No.93 Aleks Vukic was called up to face world No.89 Collignon in the decider.
But he could not get the job done, winning the opening set but fading from there, losing 7-6(5) 2-6 3-6.
It means Belgium has beaten Australia four straight times at the Davis Cup, all four ties decided in a live fifth match.
The result sees Belgium advance into the Final 8, to be played in Italy in late November.
The Aussies were beaten semi-finalists in last year’s Davis Cup finals.
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