Spain reached its fifth Davis Cup final in the last dozen edition on Sunday and will face Argentina after the South Americans knocked out holder Serbia as Novak Djokovic quit injured in a key singles match.
Rafael Nadal, who crushed crushed Jo—Wilfried Tsonga 6—0, 6—2, 6—4, sent Spain into the final against the Argentines, who claimed a 3—1 victory when world number one Djokovic had to stop after 92 minutes in a battle of US Open champion against Juan Del Potro.
The Argentine won 7—6 (7—5), 3—0 for an unbeatable 3—1 scoreline.
Djokovic appeared to roll his ankle, collapsing on court in pain and was helped to the sidelines before giving up the match.
The Serb was playing for the first time since defeating Nadal for the US Open crown on Monday night and had been doubtful at best for the tie in Belgrade.
He embraced Del Potro in tears and the Serbian title repeat dream ended in front of nearly 20,000 shocked home fans.
Three—times runners—up Argentina will play Spain away in the final from December 1—3.
There was drama on grass in Sydney as the promotion tie between Australia and Switzerland was stopped due to bad light in controversial circumstances with Stanislas Wawrinka leading 5—3 in the final set of the last rubber against Lleyton Hewitt.
Aussie captain Patrick Rafter blew up as light faded, his pleas to suspend the proceedings not heeded until the last moment by the chair umpire.
Wawrinka led Hewitt 4—6, 6—4, 6—7 (7—9), 6—4, 5—3 after Roger Federer kept his nation in with a chance for a return to the World Group for 2012 with a defeat of teenaged Bernard Tomic, 6—3, 7—5, 3—6, 6—3 in reverse singles for a 2—2 scoreline.
Wawrinka, still feeling the effects of a US Open leg injury, managed 18 aces against Hewitt, ranked 199 after leading the rankings a decade ago.
Wawrinka had 91 winners to 77 for Hewitt, with the Swiss breaking four times and the Aussie twice in the marathon battle.
Federer won three of his first four service games without dropping a point against Tomic on the way to the win which kept Switzerland alive. Against Tsonga, Nadal, who swept to a straight—sets win on Friday, didn’t lose a point on serve in the opening set and secured a break in the fifth game of the second as Tsonga failed to fire in the pressure situation on his way to the loss in two and a quarter hours.
Spain have now won their last 20 ties at home, with their last lose in 1999 against Brazil.
Nadal hasn’t lost a Davis singles match since his 2004 debut, and now stands 18—1 overall and 14—0 on clay.
“This is an important victory for us,” said the world number two, “The atmosphere was great. I played well, didn’t have many mistakes and was solid from the baseline. It gives me a lot of confidence. Jo is a dangerous player, his serve and forehand are tough to stop.
“It’s always a pleasure to play in another final.” Captain Albert Costa said: “I feel great for this team. Rafa played an unbelievable match. I knew that Rafa would be tough to beat today.
“He was so good, he played so deep and long, served well and returned everything. When Rafa is good on clay, he’s unbeatable.” Spain will look for a third trophy in four years. The country also won the competition in 2004 over the US and in 2000 against Australia.