Davis Cup's 5th 'dead rubber' may be scrapped

London: Davis Cup teams will no longer have to play a fifth match if one side already has an unbeatable 3-1 lead.

The International Tennis Federation announced the new "dead rubber" rule on Wednesday ahead of this weekend's World Group first-round matches.

Under the change, if one team clinches victory in the best-of-five series after the fourth match on Sunday — the first reverse singles — and that match lasted at least four sets, the captains can agree to scrap the second reverse singles.

However, all five matches still have to be played if a team earns an unbeatable 3-0 lead after Saturday's doubles, or the tie is decided after the fourth match which has gone only three sets. All "dead rubbers" will continue to be played over best-of-three tiebreaker sets.