Belarus knocked Germany out of the Davis Cup World Group on Sunday by securing victory over the three-times champions in their play-off tie.

Max Mirnyi beat Rainer Schuettler 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 to give Belarus an unassailable 3-1 lead which meant Germany would be relegated for the first time in 20 years.

Germany, who won the Davis Cup in 1988, 1989 and 1993, had not left the 16-team elite since being promoted back in 1983.

They will play in the Euro/African zone next year while Belarus will feature in the World Group for the first time.

Mirnyi was the inspiration behind the visitors' victory, winning both his singles matches and teaming up with Vladimir Voltchkov to beat Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer in Saturday's doubles.

Germany, missing the days when Boris Becker and Michael Stich made them an intimidating force, were without Tommy Haas, arguably their best singles player, who is struggling to recover from a shoulder injury.

German captain Patrick Kuehnen faces criticism for selecting the untested Tomas Behrend for the singles and leaving out Germany's strongest doubles player, Michael Kohlmann.

Behrend, playing his first Davis Cup tie for Germany, wasted two match points before falling in five sets to Mirnyi in Friday's opening singles.

Australian Open finalist Schuettler pulled Germany level by beating Voltchkov but Schuettler and Kiefer, who had harly ever played together, then lost the doubles to leave Germany on the brink of elimination.

Hewitt leads Australia to final

Melbourne: Lleyton Hewitt led Australia to a heroic 3-2 victory in their Davis Cup semi-final against Switzerland on Sunday, recovering from two sets down to beat Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in an enthralling battle.

Australia will play either Spain or Argentina in the November final after Hewitt produced a stunning comeback in the first of the reverse singles when Federer was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set.

Hewitt won 5-7, 2-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-1 to put Australia 3-1 up, breaking the world number three's serve twice in the fifth set as Federer began to tire in his third match in three days.

Australia's Todd Woodbridge retired in the fifth rubber after losing the first set 4-6 to Michel Kratochvil.

"This beats the hell out of winning the (2001) U.S. Open and (2002) Wimbledon, I tell you right now," said Hewitt, who was carried off the court by Australian captain John Fitzgerald after his 211-minute match.

"This is an incredible feeling. He was pretty much unstoppable in that second set. I really had to dig deep," added Hewitt, who hit an overhead smash winner to close the rubber and slumped to his knees in delight.

"Even when I was 5-3 down in the third set, I was just telling myself to hang in there. I felt like I'd be the fitter player and in the end it paid off."

Hewitt said he had been inspired by Pat Cash's comeback from two sets down to beat Sweden's Mikael Pernfors and lead Australia to victory in the 1986 Davis Cup final.

"I know every single shot in that match. I watched it on the Pat Cash video when I was very young," Hewitt said. "I looked up to that guy and I looked up to one day being in that situation. This is a dream."

ELECTRIC FEELING

Hewitt, 22, has failed to get to the semi-finals in any of the four grand slam tournaments this year but said he could not be happier.

"A lot of people have wanted to have goes all year at my form or whatever. This should shut everyone up," he said.

"The feeling that I had out there on centre court when I was serving for that match, it was the most electric feeling you could ever have. I'm so passionate about playing for Australia. To have all the crowd standing up like that, it was incredible."

Federer, needing a victory to keep the tie alive for Switzerland, served for the match at 5-3 in the third set but the determined Hewitt broke back and forced a tie-break which he won 7-4 on his second set point.

Federer took a break off court then made two successive errors in the fourth set to drop serve and go down 2-4.

Serving again at 5-6 to stay in the fourth set, Federer was pushed to deuce and served a double fault before Hewitt hit an off-balance backhand volley winner to take the set.

It was Federer's first loss in 11 Davis Cup singles rubbers, nine of which were straight-set victories. Hewitt has won eight of the 10 meetings between the pair.

Wayne Arthurs and Woodbridge ground out an exciting five-set victory over Federer and Swiss captain Marc Rosset on Saturday to give Australia a 2-1 lead. The hosts squeezed home 4-6, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a doubles encounter that lasted three hours 17 minutes.

The semi-final tie was level after Friday's singles when Hewitt beat Switzerland's world number 129 Kratochvil 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 and Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis lost to Federer 3-6, 4-6, 6-7.

Fitzgerald and Hewitt hinted that Australia, who have won 27 Davis Cup titles and been losing finalists 19 times, would choose to play the November 28-30 final on grass at Melbourne Park.

Czech Republic in 16-team World Group

Bangkok: Jiri Novak beat a low-key Paradorn Srichaphan 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to secure the Czech Republic's place in the elite 16-team World Group of the Davis Cup next year.

Following his polished performance, the Czech launched an attack on Thai officials who, he claimed, had been unfairly supporting his opponent.

"There was a problem the whole match, because every close ball was against me," fumed Novak. "There were maybe 15 bad calls."

One incident which incensed the Czech was when Paradorn was awarded a point to lead 3-2 in the third set after the ball had been called out.

"On that point the linesman called out and showed it out, so I didn't play the ball. Then he lied to the umpire that he didn't say anything," Novak said.

"So I said to him he can just see on the TV what he did. I know the problem is because we are playing in Thailand and all the linesmen are from Thailand and they are supporting their player."

That made victory all the more satisfying for Novak, who came through three matches in three days without dropping a set.

"I'm one of the happiest men in the world at this moment because I won nine sets in a row this week and we are in the World Group for next year," the player said. "I was expecting a very great match and I was ready to fight. I think I was very much better on the court. I was playing a little bit faster and I was up at the net.

"I have seen him play much better than he did today. Maybe he felt pressure, but the pressure was on him because I was playing pretty good tennis and he didn't get the chance to attack me. He had the support of the crowd and everything was going for him, so I don't think the pressure was on him that way."

In the remaining singles rubber, Tomas Berdych overcame Danai Udomchoke 7-6 6-3 to complete the best-of-five match victory 4-1.