Slovak No 1 Karol Kucera defeated Thomas Enqvist in four sets to give the Slovaks victory and hand Sweden their first Davis Cup defeat since the 1996 final.

Kucera, ranked 10th in the world, started slowly as Enqvist, enjoying the support of a raucous hometown crowd, comfortably took the opening set.

At 3-3 with Kucera hobbled by a sore leg, Enqvist had a chance to pull away but blew three break points. The Slovak then found his form and broke Enqvist in the next game.

Kucera dominated the third set putting up a pair of breaks before the two battled through a close third with both belting winners past each other like a pair of gunslingers.

But Enqvist blinked first, losing his serve in the ninth game and allowing Kucera to serve out the match.

Italy, beaten by Sweden in last year's final, lost0-3 to Switzerland in Neuchatel. Brazil took an unassailable 3-1 lead over Spain after Gustavo Kuerten defeated World No 2 Carlos Moya in the first reverse singles.

RESULTS

Slovakia 3 Sweden 1 in Trollhatran: Karol Kucera-Dominik Hrbaty lost to Jones Bjorkman-Nicklas Kulti 6-4 6-7 7-6 1-6 3-6; Karol Kucera bt Thomas Enqvist 1-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.

Switzerland 3 Italy 0 in Neuchatal: Marc Rosset-Lorenzo Manta bt Stefano Pescosolido-Laurence Tieleman 7-6 4-6 7-5 6-3.

Britain 1 US 2 in Birmingham: Tim Henman-Greg Rusedski bt Todd Martin-Alex O'Brien 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-7 (7-5) 6-3.

Germany 2 Russia 1 in Frankfurt: Boris Becker-David Prinosil bt Yevgeny Kafelnikov-Andrei Olkhoysky 6-7 6-2 6-3 4-6 10-8; Yevgeny Kafelnikov bt Thomas Haas 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Brazil 3 Spain 1 in Lleida: Gustavo Kuerten-Jaime Oncins bt Alex Corretja-Albert Costa 6-2 5-7 4-6 6-4 6-3; Gustavo Kuerten bt Carlos Moya 6-2 6-4 6-1.