Elsewhere, Spain held their nerve to beat Brazil 3-2 in the fiery atmosphere of Porto Alegre and Marc Rosset inspired 1992 Davis Cup finalists Switzerland almost single-handedly to a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic.

Belgium clinched the Low Countries Derby against The Netherlands with Christophe Van Garsse of Belgium winning the decider after a gruelling five-set win over Sjeng Schalken. The remaining first round match spilt over to Monday with the United States winning their doubles to take a 2-1 lead into the final singles rubbers over Russia. The Swedes produced a brave and gutsy performance to eliminate the Slovakians, who had looked to have the upper hand asthey fielded Australian Open runner-up Karol Kucera and promising youngster Dominik Hrbaty while the visitors lost Thomas Enqvist and Jonas Bjorkman before the match had started.

The Scandinavians, though, rebounded from going 2-0 down on the first day and gained the crucial psychological advantage when Magnus Norman defeated Kucera in five hard-fought sets in Sunday's first rubber, with the Swede's powerful first service and superb cross court shots finally sealing the Slovakian No.1's fate.

The 31-year-old Gustafsson, who was the oldest player to win on the ATP circuit last year then wrapped it up against Hrbaty, taking the fourth set tiebreaker 7-4 and raising his Davis Cup singles record to 8-2. Spain moved into a quarter-final meeting with Switzerland as Carlos Moya and Alex Corretja won both the singles on Sunday to dampen the spirits of the Brazilian home support.

Corretja was Spain's hero and Brazil's villain as he beat their French Open hero Gustavo Kuerten in four sets in Sunday's openingrubber. Moya then wrapped things up with a straight sets win over Fernando Meligeni.

RESULTS

Spain 3 Brazil 2

Reverse singles: Alex Corretja (Spa) bt Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; Carlos Moya (Spa) bt Fernando Meligeni (Bra) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-2Slovakia 2 Sweden 3

Reverse singles: Magnus Gustafsson (Swe) bt Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4); Magnus Norman (Swe) bt Karol Kucera (Svk) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Germany 5 South Africa 0

Reverse singles: David Prinosil (Ger) bt Wayne Ferreira (Rsa) 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4); Thomas Haas (Ger) bt Grant Stafford (Rsa) 6-1, 7-6 (7/4).Switzerland 3 Czech Republic 2

Reverse singles: Marc Rosset (Swi) bt Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) 6-4, 7-5, 7-5; Martin Damm (Cze) bt Ivo Heuberger (Swi) 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 7-6 (7/5).

USA 2 Russia 1

Doubles: Todd Martin/Richey Reneberg (USA) bt Yevgeny Kafelnikov/Marat Safin (Rus) 7-6 (7/3), 6-1, 2-6, 6-1

Belgium 3 Netherlands 2

Doubles: Jacco Eltingh/Jan Siemerink(Ned) bt Libor Pimek/Filip Dewulf (Bel) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; Reverse singles: Filip Dewulf (Bel) bt John van Lottum (Ned) 6-4, 6-0, 6-4; Christophe Van Garsse (Bel) bt Sjeng Schalken (Ned) 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3.