LONDON: Marin Cilic completed a dream week by steering Croatia into the Davis Cup World Group on Sunday but Spain found themselves out in the wilderness after crashing to defeat in Brazil.

Less than a week after winning the US Open, Cilic snatched the crucial fifth rubber of Croatia’s World Group playoff tie against the Netherlands in Amsterdam, beating Thiemo de Bakker 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 to complete a 3-2 victory.

Cilic, rested for the first singles, had won Saturday’s doubles with Marin Draganja.

“It was extremely good tennis and I’m extremely happy to be back in the World Group with my team,” Cilic said on court. “We have a young team and we’re only going to be able to improve.”

Almost unthinkably for a nation blessed with so many top 100 players, Spain will not be in next year’s World Group after they were relegated following defeat against Brazil on an indoor claycourt in Sao Paulo.

Roberto Bautista Agut’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat by Thomaz Bellucci in the first reverse singles after the visitors trailed 2-1 overnight means Spain will be missing from the elite for the first time since 1996.

They have won the title five times since 2000 but this year they have been weakened by the absence of a host of big names including Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer.

“This is one of the greatest moments of my career,” the 83rd-ranked Bellucci said. “It’s a great moment for Brazilian tennis and it comes at the right time. We showed our value today.”

Croatia, the 2005 champions, and Brazil will be joined in the World Group by Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada and Serbia who all triumphed in their playoff ties.

The World Group playoff losers — Colombia, Israel, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and India — will be relegated to zone group competitions in 2015.

The playoff between Serbia and India in Bangalore was decided on Monday after the fifth and decisive singles match was suspended because of rain on the weekend.

Filip Krajinovic, leading 6-3, 4-4 against India’s 22-year-old Yuki Bhambri when play was stopped, needed just an hour to wrap up the match 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the playoff 3-2 for Serbia and quash India’s hopes of returning to the World Group after three years.

Serbia, playing without Novak Djokovic, led 2-0 after the opening singles before Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna won the doubles on Saturday to begin India’s comeback and Somdev Devvarman made it 2-2 with a 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Dusan Lajovic.

In Perth, Nick Kyrgios and Sam Groth wrapped up a 5-0 clean sweep for Australia in their play-off against Uzbekistan.

Carlos Berlocq and Leonardo Mayer won singles matches on Sunday as Argentina, finalists three times since 2006, came from 2-1 down on Sunday to beat Israel 3-2 and maintain their World Group status in a tie moved to Miami from Tel Aviv some weeks ago due to the fighting in the Middle East.

The United States swept Slovakia 5-0 to extend a streak in the top tier that began in 1989, and David Goffin defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 to give Belgium the winning point against Ukraine in Tallinn.

Canada progressed to the World Group as Milos Raonic beat Santiago Giraldo in straight sets to give his side an unassailable lead against Colombia in Halifax.

This year’s final will be between France and Roger Federer’s Switzerland. France saw off defending champions Czech Republic while Federer gave the Swiss victory against Italy.

Published in Dawn, September 16th , 2014