LONDON, July 21: Five-times champions Spain and unseeded Austria were both given stern tests before marching into the Fed Cup semi-finals on Sunday.

Spain became the first nation to clinch a place in the last four after Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario stormed back from a set down to beat Germany’s Martina Muller 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Barbara Schwartz had to keep a check on her nerves as she saved three match points before edging past Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 4-6 6-3 8-6 in Portschach and guide Austria into the semis of the team event for the first time since 1990.

With Spain leading 2-0 after Saturday’s opening singles, Sanchez-Vicario quickly found herself in trouble as she dropped the first set to Muller in sunny Mallorca.

Although the 30-year-old Spaniard rallied to take the second, she was again pinned back at the start of the decider when Muller gained the break to go 2-1 up.

But Sanchez-Vicario refused to buckle in the sweltering heat and immediately grabbed the break back before racing to a 5-2 lead with her trademark groundstrokes on the red clay.

With victory beckoning, a thundering ace gave the Spaniard match point which she followed up with a backhand volley winner.

Spain’s semi-final opponents Austria were briefly railroaded in their quest for a semi-final spot when 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli won the opening reverse singles of the day for Croatia.

Trailing 2-1, Croatia appeared to be back in contention but Majoli’s victory only managed to delay the inevitable.

Schwartz, who engineered the stunning demise of the United States in the first round after scoring singles wins over both Monica Seles and Meghann Shaughnessy, toyed with Kostanic in a marathon tussle before she finally ended Croatia’s dreams of reaching their first Fed Cup semi-final.

In the world group play-off ties, Australia, Russia, Argentina, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have all secured places in the 16-team 2003 world group.

Australia won the deciding doubles against Netherlands to clinch their tie 3-2 while Russia overwhelmed China 5-0 in Beijing.

Argentina, led by French Open semi-finalist Clarisa Fernandez, had little trouble sweeping aside Hungary and the Czechs ended the hopes of Canada.

The United States lead Israel 2-0 after the opening singles matches in Springfield, Missouri.

Colombia had already been promoted to the world group after their opponents Japan withdrew from the event.

OTHER SEMIFINALS RESULTS: