Australia won the Davis Cup for the 28th time today when a courageous Mark Philippoussis beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in a five-set struggle in his home city of Melbourne.
Needing to win just one of the two concluding rubbers to secure the title, Australia snatched an unassailable 3-1 lead when Philippoussis defied injury to beat the French Open champion 7-5 6-3 1-6 2-6 6-0.
Philippoussis needed medical treatment on a pectoral muscle after the fourth set when the momentum had suddenly turned against him but he decided to play on in agony.
"There was no way I was going to pull out," Philippoussis said. "This is Davis Cup and you leave your heart out there. At the end of the day I was completely numb. I felt like I wasn't playing but watching from the sideline."
The final match between Lleyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya was called off as the players and crowd burst into spontaneous celebration. Hewitt watched the match from courtside but missed the last set after he was ordered to start preparing to play Moya.
Philippoussis, who had lost his opening singles match to Moya on Friday, produced a near-perfect demonstration of grasscourt 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 of his own but could not raise his game again when Philippoussis regained control.
"The feeling is bad and of sadness," Ferrero said. "We came here with a lot hope. We wanted to win this final. We had a bit of bad luck. I tried as hard as I could in the fifth set but I think he just played too well."