TENNIS:Britain and Austria took a big step towards securing berths in the Davis Cup world group next season after building commanding 2-0 leads against their respective play-off rivals yesterday.

Andy Murray edged Marin Cilic 3-6 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-3 and Tim Henman swept aside Roko Karanusic in straight sets to put Britain in the driving seat against Croatia at Wimbledon.

Serbia and Australia were tied 1-1 in Belgrade after Novak Djokovic beat Peter Luczak in straight sets and Lleyton Hewitt redressed the balance with the 6-2 3-6 4-6 6-1 6-1 defeat of Janko Tipsarevic.

Israel took a 2-1 lead against Chile in Ramat Hasharon. Slovakia were tied 1-1 with South Korea as were Czech Republic against Switzerland.

Japan and Romania were also level at 1-1 in Osaka while Peru were leading Belarus 1-0 in Lima.