Australia won the Davis Cup for the 28th time yesterday when Mark Philippoussis beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in an epic five-set struggle.

Needing to win just one of the two concluding rubbers to secure the title, Australia snatched an unbeatable 3-1 lead when Philippoussis won his match 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 2-6, 6-0.

The fifth match between Lleyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya was immediately called off as the players and crowd burst into spontaneous celebration.

"At the end of the day I was completely numb. I felt like I wasn't playing but watching from the sideline," a jubilant Philippoussis said.

"It just shows how much this means to all of us. It has been a long year and it was our goal."

Australia's non-playing captain John Fitzgerald said: "What a team, what a great bunch of guys.

"Spain is the strongest men's nation in the world. They just have a conveyer belt of players.

"They played on a surface that is unfamiliar to them. Imagine how hard they would be in Spain on clay."

Philippoussis, who had lost his opening singles match to Moya on Friday, produced a near-perfect demonstration of grass court tennis to race to a 2-0 lead against the world's third-ranked player.

The Wimbledon finalist fired down an array of aces, accurate volleys and crisp ground strokes to overpower Ferrero, whose natural baseline game is better suited to clay.

The Spaniard fought back gallantly to force the match into a deciding fifth set despite having a leg injury but could not raise his game again.

"The feeling is bad and of sadness," Ferrero said.

"We came here with a lot of hope. We wanted to win this final. We had a bit of bad luck."

Overhead smash

Philippoussis regained the ascendancy when he broke Ferrero in the second game of the final set.

Roared on by a full house at Melbourne Park's Rod Laver Arena, his momentum carried him to victory and he collapsed in joy after sealing his win with an overhead smash.

Australia were always heavy favourites to win tennis' most famous team trophy after playing at home on a temporary grass court that suited their players.

Friday's opening singles had been split 1-1 after Hewitt beat Ferrero in five sets and Philippoussis lost to Moya. But the odds were dramatically shortened in the hosts' favour when Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge won Saturday's doubles rubber.

Despite Australia's great record in the Davis Cup, they hadn't won the title on home soil since 1986 and their only win since then was in France in 1999 when Philippoussis was again the hero.

Australia lost the 2000 final to Spain in Barcelona and were odds-on favourites to beat France at home two years ago. But they lost in the deciding rubber after Fitzgerald suddenly changed his starting line-up for the last two days and the gamble backfired on him.

Close

Today's Top News		Top Sports News
+Diplomatic dispute won't hurt space mission ( 2003-12-01) +New survey tracks deadly virus ( 2003-12-01) +Officials punished in corruption purge ( 2003-12-01) +Comment: Time to move State share ( 2003-12-01) +Jobs, farmers' income top economic plan ( 2003-12-01)		+Australians claim Davis Cup ( 2003-12-01) +Valencia claim top spot, Real second ( 2003-12-01) +Chelsea, Milan and Stuttgart rule on two fronts ( 2003-12-01) +Brazil take title, Chinese men takes 10th spot ( 2003-12-01) +Argentina, China draw 3-3; hosts two wins ( 2003-12-01)