Earlier, world number one Rafael Nadal survived a spirited early attack from Sam Querrey, before beating the Davis Cup debutant 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening semifinal rubber.

The French Open and Wimbledon champion took three hours and 18 minutes to subdue the world number 39. He struggled to contain Querrey's booming serves and powerful forehand on the specially-built clay court in Madrid's Las Ventas bullring.

The opening passage was strewn with errors but Querrey started to find his range with big ground strokes. In the deciding game it was the inexperienced American who seized the initiative to lead it 4-1 and he held his nerve while Nadal double-faulted, to grasp the set in just under an hour.

The enthusiastic crowd looked as stunned whenQuerrey immediately broke the 22-year-old at the start of the second set.

However, Nadal later drew the the American into longer rallies which the claycourt master invariably dominated.
As errors crept into Querrey's game and Nadal's shots began to fizz, Querrey cracked in the 10th game to hand Nadal the set.

It was a similar story in the third as Nadal soaked up Querrey's powerful strokes and chased down everything before hitting a series of sensational counter punches. Despite battling in the fourth, Querrey finally buckled in the ninth game.

Nalbandian on song

Meanwhile, David Nalbandian drew first blood for Argentina in their semi-final against Russia with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 win over Igor Andreev, adds Reuters from Buenos Aires.

There were no service breaks in the first set and the rubber turned on the tie break when Andreev squandered a 4-2 lead.

Andreev made three unforced errors before Nalbandian wrapped up the set. Nalbandian carried the momentum through into the next set, producing the first service break of the match in the fourth game.