18 Sep 2011

Australia lead Switzerland in Davis Cup playoff tie

7:12 am on 18 September 2011

Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione have won the doubles rubber to give Australia a 2-1 lead against Roger Federer's Switzerland in the Davis Cup world group playoff tie.

With the tie level at 1-1 after Friday's singles matches, Hewitt and Guccione came back strongly after losing the first set to defeat the Beijing Olympics gold medal winning pair of Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 2-6 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7-5).

Australia will need one more victory from the remaining two rubbers today to return to the elite world group for the first time since 2007.

Teenager Bernard Tomic will take on Federer while Hewitt will play Wawrinka in the reverse singles matches on Sunday.