Austria end quarter-final wait

With Austria leading 2-1 going into the final day of the tie in Wiener Neustadt, Jurgen Melzer proved too good for Russian debutant Alex Bogomolov, winning 6-2 6-4 6-1.

How much further Austria can go remains to be seen though as next up they face a trip to defending champions Spain, who completed their victory over Kazakhstan on Sunday.

The 2010 winners Serbia also booked their spot in the last eight on Sunday, Janko Tipsarevic securing their all-important third point with victory over Sweden's Michael Ryderstedt.

The Swedes had done well to keep the tie alive with victory in Saturday's doubles but they were always going to be up against it in the reverse singles and Tipsarevic posted an expected 6-2 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 win.

Serbia now face a tricky trip to the Czech Republic, who wrapped up their victory over Italy.

Earlier, Ivo Karlovic fired Croatia into the quarter-finals by winning the deciding rubber in Japan.

Having already won singles and doubles rubbers in Hyogo, Karlovic posted a third victory of the weekend by fending off Go Soeda in straight sets.

The big-serving star won 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 6-4.

Croatia will now travel to Argentina, easy winners in Germany, in April in the last eight.

Earlier, Japanese number one Kei Nishikori had taken the tie the distance by beating Ivan Dodig 7-5 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.

Straight-sets wins for Ryan Harrison (over Michael Lammer) and John Isner (v Marco Chiudinelli) completed a USA whitewash over Switzerland in Fribourg.

The Americans will face another away tie in the last eight - in either Canada or France.

Australia completed a 5-0 whitewash of China on Sunday with dead rubber wins for Matt Ebden and Chris Guccione.

They will now host Korea in April with the winner of that tie progressing to the World Group play-offs.