Spain qualified for the final of the David Cup on Sunday after beating the United States in the semi-final held in Madrid's Las Ventas arena.
World number one Rafael Nadal won the fourth match of the tie, beating Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 to give Spain an unassailable 3-1 overall lead and making the fifth match of the tie totally superfluous.
The match began well for the Spanish on Friday when Nadal defeated Sam Querrey in four sets and David Ferrer beat Roddick to give them a 2-0 lead.
The Americans pulled back on Sunday, when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan defeated Fernando Velsaco and Feliciano Lopez in a marathon five set (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4) thriller.
Nevertheless, that left the Spanish only needing to win one of Sunday's singles matches and although the first game was delayed by rain in Madrid, Nadal duly obliged.
(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2008)