On Sunday, Russia eliminated defending Davis Cup winner Spain, setting up a quarter-final match against Sweden. The tie between the Russians and the weakened Spanish team came down to a late-night doubles match in Madrid.
Aslan Karatsev and world number five Andrey Rublev defeated Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to win Group A and deny the Spanish team the opportunity to play in front of a home audience on Thursday in Madrid.
The Russians got off to a poor start in the tie when Lopez upset Rublev 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first singles match. They were playing under the name of the Russian Tennis Federation due to doping sanctions against Russian sports.
Daniil Medvedev, the US Open champion, broke the tie with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Pablo Carreno Busta before the match was settled in doubles. With a come-from-behind victory over the Czech Republic on Sunday, Britain qualified for the last eight and will face Germany in Innsbruck on Tuesday. Kazakhstan and Croatia made it to the final eight as well.
Dan Evans was defeated 6-2, 7-5 by world number 143. Britain needed a comeback from Tomas Machac to win for the second time in a row and take first place in Group C.