Tennis - Cup Shock As Belgium Beat Aussies

Belgium beat 28-time winners Australia for the first time to reach the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup.

Australia had fought back from 2-0 down with Lleyton Hewitt levelling the tie after beating Olivier Rochus in a five-set four-hour marathon in Liege.

But Kristof Vliegen beat Chris Guccione 6-4 6-4 6-4 in the final rubber to clinch victory for Belgium, who now host Germany in April's quarter-finals.

Also through are Spain, the USA, Argentina, France, Sweden and Russia.

For the first time since the World Group was introduced in 1981, all eight ties were live going into Sunday's final day.

But six nations won with a rubber to spare with just Belgium and Russia needing deciders to earn victory.

Belgium, who have just returned to the World Group after a three-year absence, had been whitewashed in their two previous meetings with Australia.

"It's historic and magnificent - a dream come true," said world number 41 Vliegen, who also beat Hewitt in Friday's singles. My heart was on the court and that helped a lot. We deserve this."

Tommy Haas beat Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets to put Germany through at the expense of 2005 winners Croatia.

Haas won 6-2 7-6 6-4 to give Germany an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie.

Defending champions Russia let slip a 2-0 lead against Chile before eventually edging through 3-2.

Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez beat Marat Safin in the first of Sunday's reverse singles to level the tie at 2-2.

But Igor Andreev saw off Chile's Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu 6-2 6-1 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 in the deciding rubber to give Russia a place in the quarter-finals.

Russia will now host France, who clinched victory over Romania when Richard Gasquet beat Andrei Pavel 6-3 6-2 7-5.

Spain reached the last eight for the first time in three years when Fernando Verdasco beat Switzerland's Stephane Bohli 6-3 6-3 6-2 in Geneva.

Spain will travel to America in the next round to play the USA, who beat the Czech Republic.

Andy Roddick came from a set down to beat Tomas Berdych 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-6 (7-4) to clinch victory for the Americans.

It was the USA's first World Group victory on clay for a decade.

Sweden knocked out Belarus when Robin Soderling finally saw off Max Mirnyi 6-7 (8-10) 7-5 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 in a four-hour marathon.

Sweden will now host last year's runners-up Argentina, who reached the quarter-finals for the sixth year in a row.

The Argentines clinched victory over Austria after 18-year-old Juan Martin Del Potro won a five-setter against Austria's Juergen Melzer in the reverse singles.

Del Potro, the youngest player in the world top 100, was a last-minute replacement for Jose Acasuso, who had pulled out of the tie with a cold.

"We had hoped for Juan to show his potential and he did," said Argentina's captain Alberto Mancini. "Although we did not have the great names like (David) Nalbandian or (Juan Ignacio) Chela here, our depth gave us victory. Winning away is very tough, but even sweeter."

The quarter-final ties will be played from 6-8 April 2007.