Great Britain have qualified for the Davis Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 28 years after Andy Murray secured the winning point against the USA.
Murray defeat Sam Querrey 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (3-7) 6-1 6-3 to give Britain an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five tie in San Diego.
It is the first time Britain have beaten the USA since 1935.
They will next travel to Italy in April for the quarter-final, which will almost certainly be played on clay.
The victory was set up by a perfect opening day on Friday, when Murray beat Donald Young before James Ward upset Querrey over five sets.
Murray was rested from the doubles on Saturday, which saw Colin Fleming and Dom Inglot lose to the world number one Bryan brothers, but the Wimbledon champion completed the job over almost three hours against Querrey on Sunday.
Murray, 26, took a grip on the match after the first two were shared in tie-breaks, and overcame a late scare when he had to recover from 15-40 down to serve out the match.
Querrey, ranked 49th, put up a strong fight following his surprise loss to Ward, twice coming back from a break down in the first set and edging the second.
But with the American crowd sensing an unexpected chance to get back in the tie, Murray slammed the door shut as he won the first four games of the third set and got the decisive break in game six of the fourth.
It was Murray's 17th successive Davis Cup singles win and secured an eighth win from nine matches for Smith, who took over the captaincy in 2010 when Britain were on the verge of relegation to the lowest Europe/Africa Zone Group III tier.
They now face the prospect of a quarter-final on 4-6 April against Italy.
The Italians, led by world number 15 Fabio Fognini and number 31 Andreas Seppi, beat Argentina 3-1 in Mar del Plata.
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