Austria, thanks to some tenacious play from Barbara Schett, their No. 1 player in what proved a roller-coaster third rubber, took an unassailable 3-0 lead in their World Group first round tie at this year’s Fed Cup in St Poelten. The victory secures them a place in next year’s World Group I and consigns the Slovak Republic to a play-off tie for a place in next year's World Group II.

From the start it became very obvious that the pressure on Schett and her Slovak counterpart Martina Sucha, was proving difficult to handle. Meeting for the second time, both players knew they carried the expectations of their respective nations – Schett Austrian hopes that she would capture that vital third point to give her team that winning margin, and Sucha Slovakia’s hopes of a strong recovery following their disastrous first day’s play.

Nerves certainly contributed greatly to the 69-minute first set which featured nine breaks of serve with Schett eventually emerging the steadier by simply holding serve twice which proved to be double the number achieved by her opponent.

Credit also to Schett who recovered from 1-4 down to claim the opening set at her fifth attempt when Sucha eventually tamely dumped a forehand in the net off a defensive stroke from the Austrian.

There was a certain amount of relief at having gained the ascendancy, but that proved short-lived as the Slovak required just 27-minutes to bring the score level at a set-all and force a decider. With Schett now finding it difficult to make an impression on the Sucha serve, her own went off the boil as she conceded it three times to the frustration of local supporters.

But then to their delight, she struck back immediately. Playing some aggressive ground strokes, she kept Sucha at full stretch storming into what became a decisive 4-0 lead as she harried and chased down every shot fired in her direction. The one way traffic was stemmed for a brief moment, but only sufficiently to prevent Sucha from suffering a third set whitewash as Schett finally hammered an ace down to seal Austria’s place in the quarterfinals 75 16 61 on her second match-point in what proved an intriguing encounter; one that kept spectators on the edge of their seats for two-hours and 14-minutes.

Captain Alfred Tesar was the first to congratulate Schett, saying afterwards that he couldn’t have been happier as he now waits to hear who he will be facing in the last eight, the USA and possibly the Williams sisters, or Slovenia.

A delighted Schett commented after her victory, “I’m very happy with my performances - two tough matches against two very different players. The crowd definitely helped and the team spirit has always been good, but perhaps better than ever this year.”

The Slovak Republic went on to win both of the dead rubbers to end the weekend losing 3-2. Janette Husarova had a 63 62 victory over Sybille Bammer in the first match, then teamed up with Ludmila Cervanova to defeat Barbara Schwartz and Patricia Wartusch 63 36 64 in a hard-fought doubles.