Advantage Henman and Rusedski

Davis Cup: Rapturous scenes as Britain win gripping doubles encounter to take lead against Swedes

They stomped, they bellowed, and at the end many of Britain's supporters in a packed National Indoor Arena wept for joy as Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski won as gripping a doubles match for Britain as you are ever likely to witness in the Davis Cup. Sweden, in the shape of Jonas Bjorkman and Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, were seen off 7-6 2-6 6-7 6-3 6-3 in three hours and 17 minutes of marvellous tennis and Britain go in to the final singles matches today with a crucial 2-1 lead.

The ultimate irony was that Rusedski, who had served indifferently all afternoon, stepped up to deliver for the match and did so with a perfect love game, his only one in five sets. Our heroes embraced, but it was Henman who accepted the crowd's worship, arms raised, while Rusedski stood back. Tim had been titanic all through, dropping serve only once – and then only on a trio of Rusedski volleying errors – but Rusedski had been an ever-present iceberg, unable to impose his power when it was so urgently needed.

Rusedski was the biggest server, and the tallest man, on court. His contribution was six aces, outweighed by seven double faults, lots of wobbles and then, dredged up magnificently, that "perfect" last game in which he got all four of his first serves on target to devastating effect. "I have been told that when you serve for the match you never lose," said Rusedski. "So that was my goal. Four first serves, four points."

The Rusedski bombshells preserved the British duo's perfect record of six Davis Cup doubles played and won and, as the captain Roger Taylor stressed: "It has put the odds in our favour now." First, there is another singles match to be tucked away to gain a winning margin and Henman is first up today. Originally he was due to face Thomas Enqvist, but now that Johansson seems to have shrugged off a reported groin strain, it could be the Champion of Melbourne who tries to keep Sweden alive until the final rubber.

Henman praised the "incredible atmosphere" in Birmingham. "We have to take advantage of that on Sunday," he said. "When you are involved in the type of match we played today, you know it is going to come down to a couple of points, and in the fifth set we were desperate to hang on to our unbeaten doubles record."

Johansson and Bjorkman, paired for the first time in doubles, were formidable opposition. Bjorkman ended last year ranked world number one in doubles, though it was Johansson who served and volleyed more impressively until the very end when, in his first outing since capturing the Australian Open, he began to wilt. Bjorkman was the man the British went after, arrowing their returns at his feet to induce errors and doubt. Johansson was simply unbreakable and did not concede more than one point in a service game until that draining fifth set was under way. For a comparatively small tennis player (5ft 11in) Johansson possesses a wonderful serve, fast and flat, and it threatened to carry the day in Sweden's direction for a long time.

Certainly the entrance music indicated as much, with the Swedish marching out to Abba's "The Winner Takes It All" while Britain's pair were greeted with Robbie Williams' "Let Me Entertain You." Victory, not entertainment, was what 10,900 people were screeching for and they were all delighted when the first set went to Britain in a tiebreak tilted by a glorious Rusedski backhand volley which bisected the opposition. That put Britain 4-1 up and the next three points were swept up emphatically in British pockets. Somehow the Swedes had managed to go one set down despite having conceded only five points in six service games.

Hopes of a quick kill melted immediately. An out-of-sorts Rusedski conceded the first service break of the match as he came under concentrated attack, though the service loss was really down to Henman, who untypically mishit an easy smash into the spectators and then sent a backhand volley out. When Rusedski again dropped serve – this time all by himself with a brace of double-faults and a pair of errors – Sweden coasted through the second set to level the match.

Tactics were discussed by the British and, as Henman reported: "We decided it was a question of starting again and making it a best-of-three set match." This, too, was in danger of coming unglued as the Swedes took control of the tiebreak at the end of the third set. Already in front by one "mini-break" against the Rusedski serve, they moved to set point as a skimming return by Bjorkman trapped Henman as he charged the net. Two of their four set points were saved before Johansson rocketed down a service winner. Two-one to Sweden after just under two hours.

There had been indications that Bjorkman's game, particularly his first serve, was not all it might have been as the match took its toll, and he duly dropped serve in the opening game of the fourth set. The stroke which forced the breach was a lob (Henman's newly discovered weapon) so cleverly placed out of Johansson's reach that he only just managed to lay the frame of his racket on it. From there it was a matter of hanging on and not conceding a service break. It almost happened in the very next game but Rusedski fought off a break point. Then, at 5-3, Bjorkman's serve came under assault again and on the second set point Henman clinched it to level the match with an unreturnable smash.

This prompted a junior section of British supporters to launch a football-style chorus of "You're not singing any more" at a raucous section of Swedish fans, though the home crowd were silenced when Rusedski's errors cost Henman his serve. Fortunately for Britain, Bjorkman was next up and he was duly broken for the third time in the match on a pathetic double-fault.

Now the level of excitement, both on and of court, was unbearable, with a pumped-up Rusedski pointing dramatically at the Swedes after every winner he hit. By now these were more and more frequent, and when Johansson's serve began to lose its bite Britain were suddenly favourites. They went 5-3 ahead as Bjorkman dropped serve again after fighting off three break points, but a poor Johansson volley left Rusedski to serve for it. End of saga.