After the brilliantly completed mission of staying up in the league, team boss Rainer Schüttler shooed his strong-nerved girls straight into Rijeka's nightlife. "I'm really proud of them, and that's why they should celebrate," said the former Grand Slam finalist after the German tennis players' 3-1 win in the play-off duel in Croatia: "I don't care when they go to bed go - the main thing is not too soon."

Thanks to a sovereign performance by Anna-Lena Friedsam and an increase in performance by Jule Niemeier, Schüttler's DTB selection secured a place in the world group of the Billie Jean King Cup on Saturday in a fiery atmosphere. Friedsam scored the decisive third point in Rijeka against top talent Petra Marcinko 6: 4, 6: 1.

Friedsam instead of Lys

Before that, Niemeier made the lead 2-1 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ana Konjuh. The final double on Saturday evening was meaningless and no longer played.

"The girls played unbelievably and confirmed the confidence," said Schüttler: "After yesterday, it was a challenge to bring the players onto the pitch with self-confidence." Schüttler himself showed a golden touch.

He called on the experienced Friedsam (Neuwied) at short notice for debutante Eva Lys (20), who had surprisingly been given preference the day before and won against top Croatian player Petra Martic. With the better "match-up", Schüttler justified both decisions - and was right.

Kerber is missing because of baby break

The 28-year-old Friedsam showed a perfect performance against the only 16-year-old Marcinko. After the balanced first set, the former round of 16 at the Australian Open (2015) dominated round two and converted her second match point after 80 minutes.

Niemeier made amends for her disappointing performance from the day before, when she was clearly inferior to Marcinko in two sets. Against Konjuh, who had replaced Martic, the 23-year-old from Dortmund showed a very focused performance and won in 83 minutes.

Lys, who scored the point that made it 1-0 on Friday, which was not necessarily calculated, was originally only nominated as the fifth player by Captain Schüttler and was supposed to gain experience. Because Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria was injured, Schüttler relied on the newcomer. Former world number one Angelique Kerber is missing because of her baby break.

The selection of the German Tennis Association (DTB) missed the final tournament of the team tournament formerly known as the Fed Cup due to the defeat in Kazakhstan (1:3).