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Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski suffered the most disappointing Davis Cup defeat of their careers as Sweden produced a brilliant final day fightback to deny Britain a place in the Davis Cup quarter-finals.

An epic five-set victory in Saturday's doubles meant the home side began the final day needing to win one just of the two remaining singles matches at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.

But the efforts of the previous two days eventually caught up with the British pair as Sweden's greater strength in depth paid massive dividends.

A weary Henman was well beaten by an inspired Thomas Enqvist in the fourth rubber, the Swede reproducing the form that saw him dispose of Rusedski in straight sets on Friday, comfortably winning 6-4 6-2 6-4.

And Rusedski could not maintain his breathtaking start against Thomas Johansson in the decider, eventually losing in four sets as Roger Taylor's side were condemned to yet another relegation play-off in September to try and stay in the elite 16-nation World Group.

Henman and Rusedski had maintained their proud unbeaten doubles record on Saturday, coming back from two sets to one down and a break down in the decider, but having to play in every series of matches ultimately proved too much.

"We felt the odds were slightly in our favour but when you are facing players like Enqvist and Johansson it's a tough task and today they played a great match," captain Taylor said.

"It's the biggest Davis Cup disappointed we have had no doubt.

"It was a great effort and we were beaten by a stronger team. They have shown why they have done so well in Davis Cup. We had our chances but all in all it was a fantastic performance from Sweden.

"When you are 2-1 up you think there is a weaker player in there but they have three strong players."

Britain of course have only two world class players available - Martin Lee and Jamie Delgado were the other squad members - and Taylor admitted they would have to continue to shoulder the burden alone.

"We have to ask them to play three matches," he added. "I think it is fair under the circumstances when they are clearly the two strongest players. There is no other option. It's not an ideal world but they did a great job and I'm proud of them."

Henman admitted fatigue had played a part as he was outplayed by Enqvist, going down 6-4 6-4 6-4 in the day's first singles.

"If I started Friday at 100 per cent, I can't honestly say I felt the same today as I did then," the 27-year-old said.

"We have to give them credit , they were narrowly the better team. But I had played nine sets before today and Enqvist played three on Friday. It's difficult circumstances but Greg and I accept that responsibility and even with that workload we came very close to winning."

"No question about it, it was an advantage to come in with fresh legs," admitted Enqvist, who nevertheless produced some brilliant tennis to brush Henman aside.

"Tim played unbelievable tennis the first two days and to be fresh was of course a factor."

Despite Henman's defeat however, a first victory in the World Group since 1986 still looked a distinct possibility as Rusedski played like a man possessed from the outset against Johansson.

The British number two whipped up the crowd and pointedly stared down the Australian Open champion as he stormed to the first set 6-4, and even after Johansson had taken the second, raced into a 5-2 lead in the third.

The pure adrenalin that Rusedski had been playing on could not last forever however and he lost the next five games in a row, critically losing his serve to love as he served for the set at 5-3.

That was effectively that, and it came as no surprise when, after saving a break point in the third game and two more in the fifth, Rusedski netted the simplest of forehands to gift his opponent a 3-2 lead.

One break was all Johansson, growing in confidence with every point, needed and he duly completed a 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 victory to silence the vast majority of the 10,900-strong crowd at the National Indoor Arena.

"I gave it all I had and tried to get the crowd involved and if I could have found a way to win that third set we might have all been sitting here a little happier now," Rusedski said.

"I needed to get some first serves in and by the time I had sorted that out it was too late."

Rusedski was so pumped up that at one stage he ran to the chair thinking he had won one service game with an ace, only to be sent back after a fault was called, and Sweden coach Carl-Axel Hageskog admitted: "We were glad to see him sprinting all the time.

"We talked about it at every point, to make them run around because we knew they could be tired. It's very difficult to play with just two players."

Hageskog did offer some hope for the British team however, adding: "They had a bit of bad luck playing us this time. But they are a good team.

"They have the chance to come back but it's easier with more players."

The final word went to Jonas Bjorkman, who was replaced by Johansson for the final rubber after losing his singles on Friday and the doubles with Johansson on Saturday.

Having made some comments in his column in a Swedish newspaper earlier in the week which described Henman as "lazy" and Henman and Rusedski as "angry rivals", Bjorkman did little to improve his popularity in England with a tongue-in-cheek challenge.

"Now we have beaten you in tennis, we will give you guys a good replay for 'Svennis'," a reference to the nickname of England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and the meeting of the two countries again in this summer's World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.