Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt helped pull his side back into their Davis Cup World Group play-off against Austria after nominating himself to play in the doubles rubber in Graz.

The 37-year-old stepped in for Jordan Thompson to partner John Peers, and the pair beat Jurgen Melzer and Oliver Marach 6-2 6-4 3-6 7-5.

It was Hewitt’s 80th match for Australia, and first since 2016.

They trail 2-1 after losing both singles rubbers on Friday.

Thompson was beaten 6-1 6-3 6-0 by Dominic Thiem, before teenager Alex de Minaur lost to Dennis Novak in four sets.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Hewitt, who made his Davis Cup debut 19 years ago, retired from singles in 2016 but returned to playing doubles earlier this year.

He has been Australia captain since 2015, and the team reached the World Group semi-finals last year, when they were beaten 3-2 by Belgium.

They are without world number 27 Nick Kyrgios, and John Millman – the top-ranked player in their team – missed the singles rubbers because of illness.

• Live scores, schedule and results
• GB take 2-1 lead over Uzbekistan after double win