A brilliant display by Rafael Nadal has seen Spain into its third Davis Cup by BNP Paribas final in five years.

The 18-year-old came in to replace his fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya, who was struggling with shoulder and knee problems, and produced one of the best performances of his career to beat Arnaud Clement 64 61 62.

"I think I never felt as great as this," said Nadal after being showered with champagne following his impressive win. "With all the crowd and all the players in the team, I'm very happy."

He wasn't the only one! Ten thousand fans in the Alicante bull ring cheered Nadal to what the player admitted was probably the best match he had played. He started slowly dropping his opening service game to 15, and for the first five games Clement was playing with his head and giving every indication that he might take the semifinal to a live fifth rubber.

Clement's level then dropped off a little, allowing Nadal to break back for 3-3. And after that the lefthander (who does everything else with his right hand) hardly made another mistake. A low-flying aircraft swooped over the bull ring at 3-3 deuce, and had Clement known what was to follow, he would probably have asked to be swept away to safety.

Nadal was brilliant, and a point in the first game of the third set must have demoralised the Frenchman. Clement did everything right, and seemed to have won the point with a drop volley. But Nadal raced to it, and ended up winning the ensuing volley rally with a brilliant reflex lob.

After a run of 10 straight games, Nadal had match point at 5-0 in the third set. He finally made a mistake, netting a forehand, and then saw Clement win two games. But it was only to make the score respectable, and a backhand crosscourt winner saw Nadal and Spain to victory in two hours 14 minutes.

The win provided adequate cover for a morning of mild chaos in the Spanish team. Nadal admitted after his win that he had been told yesterday he was likely to play the first reverse singles, but then when practising with Juan Carlos Ferrero on Sunday morning, Ferrero felt a blister on his right hand would prevent him from playing, so Tommy Robredo would have to jump in.

Spain's captain Jordi Arrese then tried to change Nadal's nomination by asking for Robredo to face Clement and Nadal to play Paul-Henri Mathieu in the fifth rubber, but they were a few minutes too late.

As it happened, it didn't matter, and the way Nadal played suggests he would have been the best choice for the fourth rubber anyway. It also leaves the question of whether he might play singles in the final, though he feels not. "If necessary I can play singles and doubles," he said, "but I think Ferrero and Moya are still favourites to play the singles if they're playing well."