Germany’s Florian Mayer has dismissed Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-2 6-3 to set up a fifth and deciding rubber in the Davis Cup tie in Hamburg.
World No.25 Mayer ruthlessly exploited Tomic’s lack of agility on clay at Rothenbaum Stadium in a contest lasting just one hour and 31 minutes.
The teenager looked lost on court at times as Mayer deftly moved him out of position with the Australian committing 31 unforced errors to Mayer’s 17.
Lleyton Hewitt has a shot at glory for Australia when he takes on Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.
The winner of the tie will play in the elite World Group next year with the loser forced to play regional qualifiers.
Australia has not played at the top level since 2007 and the nation has held 2-1 leads in the past two World Group playoffs only to lose both reverse singles rubbers.
Mayer and Tomic had met once on tour before Sunday’s showdown with the German cleaning up the Queenslander 6-2 6-2 on hardcourt in Brisbane.
And the seasoned German campaigner delivered another lesson to the teenager, using his drop shot to deadly effect against his heavy-footed opponent.
He broke Tomic in the fifth game of the match and held on to take the first set in half an hour.
The signs started to really look bad for Australia during the second set as Tomic’s shoulders started to slump as Mayer maintained the upper hand in the match.
Tomic managed to finally break Mayer’s serve in the third set only to drop his own serve in the following game as the German completed an easy win.