THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON -- Spain secured a place in the Davis Cup semifinals with victory Saturday in an epic doubles match against Germany and still must await the outcome of the United States-France tie to learn their opponent. Russia and Argentina also won to take 2-1 leads into Sunday's final reverse singles matches. Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco beat Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner 6-7 (3), 7-6 (1), 6-4, 2-6, 12-10 for Spain to establish an unassailable 3-0 lead over Germany. The match lasted four hours 45 minutes. The Spaniards saved match points at 6-6 and 8-8 in the final set, and clinched the best-of-five series when Kohlschreiber hit the ball long in front of 5,000 home fans. Spain led 2-0 as second-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 5 David Ferrer each won Friday's singles. Both players may now skip Sunday's meaningless reverse singles. Kohlschreiber was taken to a hospital for a checkup late Friday after complaining of not feeling well following his four-set loss to Ferrer. "It's enough to make you sick," Kohlschreiber said. "I was on the court three hours yesterday, 4:45 today and didn't win. We lost that last set rather unluckily." Spain, the 2004 champion, now face either the United States or France in September's semifinals. France kept its hopes alive with a doubles victory over the Americans in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement rallied past top-ranked twins Bob and Mike Bryan 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to cut the Americans' lead to 2-1. The Bryans had been 14-1 in Davis Cup play and 5-0 in clinching situations. Llodra and Clement raised their record to 4-2 against the Bryans to send the French with new hope heading into the reverse singles. In Moscow, the Russian pair of Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev rallied to beat Radek Stepanek and Pavel Vizner of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Both team captains made substitutions for the originally drawn doubles pairings. Andreev came in for Mikhail Youzhny and Stepanek substituted for Lukas Dlouhy. "We both do not play doubles that often," Andreev said. "It took us a while to remember what doubles are about. Unfortunately, it took us the whole first set -- but then we lit up." Andreev was drawn to play Berdych in the opening reverse singles match Sunday, followed by Safin against Stepanek. The fourth-ranked Davydenko, who is fresh from winning in Key Biscayne, Florida, last week, is expected to substitute for Andreev. Russia has not lost at home since the 1995 final, when Pete Sampras won all three of his matches to lead the United States to victory. Since then, the Russians have won 15 straight. The winner of this matchup will play either Argentina or Sweden. On the outdoor clay of Buenos Aires, David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas defeated Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 to give Argentina a 2-1 lead. "This was a crucial point. Without this doubles victory, things would have gotten very complicated," Argentina team captain Alberto Mancini said. "Our players entered the court playing very solidly, very confidently." Argentina has won 11 straight ties at home since 1998. Nalbandian is scheduled to play Robin Soderling on Sunday, with Jose Acasuso to play Thomas Johansson.
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