China took the final two matches against Chinese Taipei in Tianjin yesterday to record a 5-0 whitewash in its Davis Cup Asia/Oceania zone Group I relegation playoff.

Zhang Ze and Wu Di rounded of the one-sided tie, securing victories in their single matches with Zhang beating Chen Ti 7-6(9/7), 6-1 and Wu claiming victory over Huang Liang-chi 6-7(5/7), 6-4, 6-1.

Zhang had beaten Yang Tsung-hua 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 on Friday, while Wu defeated Chen 1-6, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4. On Saturday, Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe won 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 over Huang and Yang Tsung-hua in the doubles match to give China an unassailable lead in the best-of-five tie.

Chinese Taipei and Indonesia will contest a relegation tie in September with the loser dropping to Asia/Oceania Group II.

Indonesia lost to India 0-5.

Elsewhere, recalled wild child Bernard Tomic was the hero for Australia and Tatsuma Ito sealed a pulsating tie for Japan as both countries reached the Davis Cup World Group playoffs yesterday.

Tomic, back in the fold after being dropped for disciplinary reasons, beat Denis Istomin to give Australia an unassailable 3-1 lead in its Asia/Oceania Group I tie with Uzbekistan, after also winning his first singles match on Friday.

In Tokyo, 24-year-old Ito held his nerve to defeat South Korea's Cho Min-hyeok 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the decisive match, after rookie Lim Yong-kyu upset Japan's Go Soeda to leave the fixture poised at 2-2.

"I tried to play 100 percent," Ito said.

"I did my best from the beginning until the end."

Also, Pakistan said it would protest after its Asia/Oceania Group II tie was awarded to opponent New Zealand because of an unplayable surface at a neutral venue in Myanmar, which was hosting the fixture for security reasons.

Pakistan had won the first singles and Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi was leading in the second on Friday when the referee stopped the tie and declared it abandoned, awarding it to New Zealand as the courts were Pakistan's responsibility.

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