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Rafael Nadal quelled French hopes of a comeback as he destroyed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 4th rubber in three lopsided sets and ushered his team into the World Group finals, where they will face off against Argentina in a bid to claim their 5th Davis Cup. The South Americans on the other hand defeated the Serbians 3-2 in their semi-final tie at Belgrade. This will be their fourth appearance at the summit clash, and they  will be looking to go one step further this time by claiming the coveted trophy.

Despite the return of Novak Djokovic for the Serbian Davis Cup team, they could not prevent the loss of their World Group semifinal tie at the hands of the Argentinians. All of Serbia's hopes rested on the World No.1's shoulders, who was expected to defeat Juan Martin Del Potro and level the tie at two apiece and give Janko Tipsarevic a chance to win it for his country in the final rubber. Yet the US Open champion's browbeaten body could not take the added exertions of another 5 setter, and he withdrew from the rubber trailing 7-6(5), 3-0 due to a rib and lower back injury. Tipsarevic however, managed to pull off a consolation win for his country against Juan Monaco. He was leading 6-2, 0-0 when Monaco retired from the match.

It was quite evident that Djokovic had not completely recovered from the exhaustion of the US Open campaign, yet the Serbian managed to compete well in a high tempo first set. Both players served particularly well without giving each other a chance to break. Djokovic was struggling with his return throughout the set, but he managed to hold fort on serve and push the set into a breaker, which he lost 7-5. Facing a 3-0 deficit with a break of serve in the second set, Djokovic collapsed with a painful scream and had to be helped on to his feet by his teammates. The best player in the world received a standing ovation from the home crowd, despite his loss ending Serbian chances of a back-to-back title triumph. A tear-filled withdrawal only emphasized how emotional the third defeat of the year was to Djokovic.

Meanwhile in Spain, the man who lost to Djokovic on six straight occasions, Rafael Nadal crushed all French hopes of a revival that were sparked by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra's demolition of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in the doubles rubber. Nadal thrashed Tsonga in a one sided match to seal the deal for his country. With all due respect to the Frenchman and those who fancied his chances of pulling off an upset, he was never really a match for the Spaniard on clay. The scoreline at Plaza de Toros de los Califas after 2 hours and 17 minutes of action, read 6-0, 6-2, 6-4. The following dead rubber between Fernando Verdasco and Richard Gasquet was reduced to a best of 3 sets encounter, which the Spaniard won easily 6-2, 6-1 which helped Spain win the tie 4-1.

Tsonga found himself in a pit from the moment he stepped on court, as Nadal conjured four break points in the very first game and converted the final one to take a 1-0. Thereafter the Spaniard simply snatched away the remainder of the set to love, with the Frenchman looking like a sailor without a compass. Tsonga seemed to be headed nowhere, as he conceded two breaks in the 5th and 7th games of the following set to lose it 6-2. He did manage to hold serve in the third set to take it to 3-3, but conceded the break in the 7th game to allow Nadal to cruise to a victory.

The Davis Cup Final will be held in the first week of December with Spain playing host to Argentina, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the match will be played on clay, making the Spaniards overwhelming favourites to clinch their 5th title in 12 years. Argentina last played Spain in the Final of the 2008 edition which Spain won 3-1.

ARGENTINA defeated SERBIA 3-2

Venue: Belgrade Arena, Belgrade, SRB (hard – indoors)

David Nalbandian (ARG) d. Viktor Troicki (SRB) 64 46 62 63
Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) d. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 75 63 64
Viktor Troicki/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) d. Juan Ignacio Chela/Juan Monaco (ARG) 76(4) 64 62
Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) d. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 76(5) 3-0 ret. (lower back injury)
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) d. Juan Monaco (ARG) 62 ret. (lower back injury)

SPAIN defeated FRANCE 4-1

Venue: Plaza de Toros de los Califas, Cordoba, ESP (clay – outdoors)

Rafael Nadal (ESP) d. Richard Gasquet (FRA) 63 60 61
David Ferrer (ESP) d. Gilles Simon (FRA) 61 64 61
Michael Llodra/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) d. Feliciano Lopez/Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 61 62 60
Rafael Nadal (ESP) d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 60 62 64
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) d. Richard Gasquet (FRA) 62 61