• Davis Cup

Djokovic injury confirms Argentina-Spain final

Rafael Nadal won in straight sets against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga © Getty Images

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Rafael Nadal earned Spain a spot in the Davis Cup final with a straight sets win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Nadal showed why he is considered the planet's finest clay-courter by blitzing his opponent 6-0 6-2 6-4, handing Spain an unassailable 3-1 lead. Fernando Verdasco went on to beat France's Richard Gasquet in the final rubber.

Gilles Simon was initially pencilled in to face Nadal but, after losing to David Ferrer on Friday, was overlooked in favour of Tsonga, who impressed with Michael Llodra in Saturday's doubles.

However, Tsonga offered little resistance in the opening two frames, and only really kept up with his opponent in the opening games of the third set. However, French Open champion Nadal broke to take a decisive 4-3 lead - and never looked back.

"I'm very happy for the country and for the team," Spain team captain Albert Costa said afterwards. "Today Rafa played a really unbelievable match and I knew today was going to be very tough.

"He played so deep, so long with a lot of power, serving good and returning everything. When this guy plays good on clay he's unbelievable. A semi-final against France is never easy so I'm very proud about this team, they're great players."

Spain will face Argentina in the final after Serbia's Novak Djokovic withdrew from his singles match against Juan Martin del Potro due to injury. Djokovic was passed fit to play after taking a break following success at the US Open, but an ankle problem caused him to pull out while trailing 6-7 0-3.

Del Potro's win - only Djokovic's third defeat in 2011 - gave Argentina an insurmountable 3-1 advantage, before Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic profited from a second-set retirement from Juan Monaco in the final rubber.

Elsewhere, Australia and Switzerland are now tied at 2-2 following Roger Federer's four-sets win over Bernard Tomic. Austria rounded off a 4-1 win over Belgium, Croatia beat South Africa by the same score, while Czech Republic defeated Romania 5-0.

Japan reached the World Group for the first time since 1985 by beating India 4-1, and there were also victories for Russia, Canada and Italy.

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