Ecuador have pulled off the shock of the Davis Cup qualifiers by defeating Japan to book their spot at finals week in November.

The tie was played behind closed doors in Miki on Saturday as part of efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, while concerns about the impact of the disease also weakened Japan’s team.

And Ecuador took full advantage, with Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo winning the doubles rubbers 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 against Ben McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama to complete a 3-0 victory.

“The situation with no fans helped us. It was weird, different, to play in a stadium without spectators, and I think that it evened up the tie,” Hidalgo told daviscup.com.

Italy’s clash with South Korea was also played behind closed doors in Cagliari but that proved to be no problem for the hosts, who eased to a 4-0 victory.

Sweden, Austria and Hungary will all make their first appearance at the finals.

Mikael Ymer was the star of the show for Sweden, the 21-year-old securing the crucial third point in a 3-1 win over Chile with a three-set victory against Alejandro Tabilo.

Austria were without their No.1 Dominic Thiem but Dennis Novak proved a more than able deputy, beating Pablo Cuevas 2-6 6-3 6-4 after Jurgen Melzer and Oliver Marach had edged a tight doubles to secure a 3-1 victory.

Hungary’s tie against perennial over-achievers Belgium was the only one to go to a deciding rubber, and it was Marton Fucsovics who defeated Ruben Bemelmans 6-7 (6-7) 6-4 6-2 to complete the comeback from 2-1 down for the hosts.

John Millman was the hero for Australia in their 3-1 victory over Brazil, the 30-year-old winning a second tense single clash 6-7 (6-7) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3) against Thiago Monteiro.

Last year’s quarter-finalists Germany are another side who will be returning to Madrid after a 4-1 win against Belarus, while Alexander Bublik won both his singles matches to help Kazakhstan to a 3-1 success over the Netherlands.

Marin Cilic lost just one game against Sumit Nagal to give 2018 champions Croatia a 3-1 victory over India.

Defending champions Spain, 2019 runners-up Canada, semi-finalists Russia and Great Britain and wild cards Serbia and France were already assured of their places in Madrid.