Ageing tour warrior Lleyton Hewitt ushered Australia into the Davis Cup semi-finals on Sunday, trouncing Aleksandr Nedovyesov 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-3 in the decisive singles rubber against Kazakhstan.
Australia will meet either Britain or France for a place in their first final since 2003 after the two-time Grand Slam champion thrilled a raucous home crowd by dominating his 115th-ranked opponent in a vintage performance.
After Nedovyesov blasted a shot past the baseline to surrender, 34-year-old Hewitt rolled over onto his back on the grasscourt and rushed over to embrace his whooping team mates.
"This is up there," he said of his victory in a courtside interview.
"I love the back-against-the-wall situation. That's what we had after day one.
"We had to rally together and find a way to get the win.
"I've always said some of my greatest wins are in Davis Cup and some of my toughest losses are in Davis Cup so I'm going to enjoy this one.
"This is what dreams are made of."
Big-serving battler Sam Groth earlier prevailed 6-3, 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(6) over Mikhail Kukushkin in the first singles rubber to level the tie 2-2.
Spanish crisis deepens with defeat by Russia
The crisis in Spanish tennis deepened as their Davis Cup team, shorn of their best players, let slip a 2-0 lead in their tie with Russia to crash to a shock defeat in the second tier of the tournament on Sunday.
The five-time winners, now captained by Conchita Martinez, were hoping to win a place in the World Group Playoff next September and return to the game's elite but instead they went down in the best-of-five matches in Vladivostok.
Spain missed star names such as Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer but they were still clear favourites in the three-day Group 1 tie against a Russian team without a player in the ATP top 100.
They started well with Tommy Robredo and Pablo Andujar winning their first two games but then Evgeny Donskoy and Konstantin Kravchuk beat Marc Lopez and David Marrero in the doubles to trigger a slide.
Robredo lost to Donskoy and youngster Andrey Rublev was too strong for Andujar in the final contest.
Spain were competing in Group 1 for the first time since 1996 following their shock defeat by Brazil last September and this further loss puts their future in the second tie in jeopardy.
It has been a turbulent time for Spanish tennis with the appointment of Martinez earlier this month, replacing the unpopular Gala Leon, giving her little time to prepare for the match.
Leon was the surprise choice by the federation, due to her lack of experience, to become Spain's first female Davis Cup captain following the Brazil defeat and she lacked the backing of many of the top players.
There had already been a poor relationship between the federation and the players who felt that they did not receive enough backing.
On top of this, federation president Jose Luis Escanuela stood down earlier this month after a financial probe by the government led to his suspension.
