Doubles win has Austria alive in Davis Cup

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ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya teamed for a doubles win Saturday that kept Austria alive in a best-of-five Davis Cup series versus Kazakhstan.

Singles wins Friday by Andrey Golubev and Evgeny Korolev had Kazakhstan on the cusp of clinching the first-round series.

However, Knowle and Peya responded with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over the team of Golybev and Yuri Schukin in the must-win situation.

The teams each had two breaks in the first set but the Austrians didn't see a break point the rest of the way, winning three-quarters of the points on serve in the second and third sets.

Austria's win means the series will be decided in Sunday's reverse singles. Golubev is to take on Jurgen Melzer in the first match Sunday followed by Korolev playing Andreas Haider-Maurer.

The winner of the Austria-Kazakhstan series moves to the Davis Cup quarterfinals against either the Czech Republic or Switzerland. That series was 1-1 after Friday's play.