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Steve Darcis gets help celebrating Belgium's victory Andy Murray's commitment was also admirable. Despite feeling the back pain which had plagued him at various points throughout the previous 18 months, he played on all three days in Great Britain's 4-1 victory over Croatia in Umag and it was apt that it was he who beat Ivan Dodig to clinch the vital point which took his country to the World Group. It has been quite a journey for British captain Leon Smith. In July 2010 his first tie in charge was against Turkey as Britain looked to avoid relegation to Europe Zone Group III, the lowest tier. Now he can look forward to his first World Group match away to USA, while 2005 champions Croatia drop down to Group I for just the second time in 13 years. Next year will be the first time since 2003 that all four Grand Slam-hosting nations are in the World Group after Australia beat Poland 4-1 in Warsaw. Stalwart Lleyton Hewitt played a part with victory in the opening rubber over Lukasz Kubot but it was 20-year-old Bernard Tomic who clinched the crucial point which ended Australia's run of five successive play-off defeats. It is almost hard to believe that the 28-time champions have not been amongst the world's elite nations since 2007 but captain Patrick Rafter can now look forward to a trip to France in January. Roger Federer may have been absent for this round but perhaps he will be enticed by the prospect of playing Serbia away next year after Switzerland beat Ecuador 4-1 in Neuchatel. Stanislas Wawrinka had lost an epic five-set US Open semifinal to Novak Djokovic just six days prior to the tie but quickly put the disappointment behind him, playing in both singles and doubles to help secure an unassailable lead. www.itftennis.com After Belgium suffered a blow two days before its tie against Israel in Antwerp when David Goffin broke his left wrist during training, perhaps Steve Darcis can take as much satisfaction as from his firstround victory over Nadal at Wimbledon. He completed the home side's comeback from 2-1 down, beating Amir Weintraub in the deciding rubber to seal an away tie to Kazakhstan in 2014. Just one week after winning the right to host the 2020 Olympics, there were more scenes of joy in Tokyo as Japan fought back to beat Colombia 3-2 and reach the World Group for just the second time since 1985. Go Soeda was the hero, beating his higher-ranked opponent Alejandro Falla in the decider, and can look forward to playing on home soil again against Canada. Stanislas Wawrinka ensured Switzerland remain among the elite Despite only being told two hours before the fourth rubber that he was going to play after Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out through illness, Germany's Daniel Brands did not disappoint, beating Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci just one day after he had made his Davis Cup debut in the doubles. The reward, if you can call it that, for Germany's 4-1 win in Ulm is another home tie against Spain. Spare a thought for Austrian captain Clemens Trimmel whose weekend did not get off to a good start when Andreas Haider-Maurer knocked on his hotel room door in Groningen early on Friday morning to let him know that he was unfit to play with a 39-degree Celsius fever. It quickly went from bad to worse as the Netherlands impressively won 5-0 to return to the top division for the first time since 2010. They travel to play Czech Republic. Dutch celebrations German captain Carsten Arriens with Daniel Brands Bernard Tomic sent Australia back to the World Group after seven years away ITFWORLD AUTUMN 2013 21