Rafael Nadal earned Spain their place in a third Davis Cup final in five years on Sunday at the Plaza de Toros de Alicante, defeating France's Arnaud Clement, a replacement for Fabrice Santoro, 6-4 6-1 6-2 to give the champions of 2000 victory and a match in November against United States.

From the outset it was noticeable Nadal wanted his piece of history: a chance to go in Spanish Davis Cup folklore amongst the likes of Manuel Santana and Manuel Orantes.

With every big point, the 18-year-old skipped, jumped and punched the air on every big point, needing two hours 12 minutes to beat Clement and send the 10,000 inside the Alicante bullring wild with joy.

Ten months ago, Spain returned scolded from Melbourne Park, having been beaten by Australia on a specially laid grass-court on the Rod Laver Arena, home to the Australian Open each year.

This time around they will have the luxury of putting the United States, winners over Belarus in the other semi-final, on clay.

Having helped Tommy Robredo to victory in Saturday's doubles against Clement and Michael Llodra, giving Spain a 2-1 lead, team captain Jordi Arrese promoted the teenager to the reverse singles in place of Carlos Moya, who looked low on confidence, Friday.

"I was surprised when I found out on Saturday night that I'd be playing but also eager," said Nadal.

It was certainly a risky decision, given that Nadal had played just two Davis Cup singles matches, winning one and losing one, prior to this tie.

GROWING IN CONFIDENCE

So Arrese must have been sweating under the collar when Clement broke the Spaniard in the opening game and then served out to love, keeping his opponent pegged back with a series of winning drives.

Nadal grew in strength as the fourth rubber of the tie wore on, however, and over the last two sets Clement was simply overwhelmed by the left-hander's immense forehand.

After the early setback, Nadal steadied his nerves with a solid service game and clawed back to level in game six, setting up a break point with a disguised drop shot and taking it thanks to an over-hit Clement pproach.

The match stayed with serve until game 10 when Clement missed a backhand to fall 15-40 behind and Nadal took the first of the two break points with a ferocious forehand that his opponent could not get near.

Nadal showed great character to save four break points in each of his first two service games in the second set and Clement's failure to take advantage of those chances clearly affected his confidence.

"I was nervous at the start but after I'd got the break back I was more comfortable and started playing much better," Nadal said.

Nadal picked up a drop volley to move 3-1 up and he rattled through the next eight games to move to the brink of victory.

He faltered slightly when serving for the match at 5-0 in the third, missing one match point and eventually losing his serve. He completed the win at his next attempt with a perfect two-handed drive.

Robredo defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-4 in the dead rubber to make the final tie result 4-1 to Spain.