Not even Marinko Matosevic believed he should have been playing Davis Cup doubles tennis for Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.

And after the first set against a depleted South Korea, it was easy to see why.

But when the dust settled on Matosevic’s hard-fought doubles win with Chris Guccione for Australia to take an unbeatable 3-0 lead, captain Pat Rafter emerged confident he had the right stock to break back into the elite World Group.

For the third straight year, Australia have earned a World Group playoff shot in September thanks to the 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-2 doubles win over Suk-Young Jeong and Jae-Min Seol.

The play-off draw will be held next week.

However, it remains to be seen whether the 28-time winners will end a five-year drought and return to the elite 16-team group this year after a wobbly display in Brisbane – especially from the late blooming Matosevic.

World No.79 doubles player Matthew Ebden was expected to partner Guccione (138th) on Saturday – and Rafter probably wondered why he hadn’t after Matosevic’s error-riddled start.

“I wasn’t too confident coming out on the doubles court. I really did think it was going to be Matt out there,” said Matosevic, ranked 260th in doubles.

“I kept on joking around. About an hour before the tie, I said ‘you’ve still got an hour to change it’.

“But they chose me and you saw the start – it was horrendous.”

Rafter cut a worried figure as Matosevic’s clangers helped Jeong – ranked 764th in doubles – and Seol (equal 1173rd) look like world beaters.

But the Aussie captain had changed his tune after the four-set win, saying Matosevic, 26, had a future in the Australian team with the World Group playoff in sight.

Indeed, Rafter admitted he was more preoccupied by Matosevic savouring victory in his first live rubber than another shot at the World Group.

“I am enjoying the moment. I think it had a lot to do with Marinko having a win in a pressure situation,” Rafter said.

“Marinko is going through a lot of lessons now that 19, 20-year-olds did.

“He showed a lot of nerves, feeling the pressure of playing for your country that I felt when I did it at 20.

“I want him to start feeling it and working out how to deal with it.”

Still Rafter could not resist having some cheeky digs at a relieved Matosevic.

“I was a bit tight (after the first set). But if he was not going to win that match, he wasn’t going to win any match,” Rafter smiled.

“The Korean boys dealt with the situation better than our boys did – our boy, I mean, I thought Gooch (Guccione) played alright.”

Of Australia’s World Group qualifying chances, Rafter said: “I rate them – I think it is a strong team”.

Australia will know next week if they are drawn with Canada, Italy (both at home), Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Japan (all away) or Kazakhstan (host decided by coin toss).