David Nalbandian vanquished Lleyton Hewitt for the first time to spearhead Argentina to a 4-1 whipping of Australia here Sunday and reach the semi-finals of the Davis Cup World Group.
Nalbandian dominated the world No.2 in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in 1hr 54min to clinch a famous first-ever Argentine victory on Australian grass and set up a September semi-final against either Slovakia or the Netherlands.
Guillermo Coria was taken to his fifth match point before dousing novice Peter Luczak, a late substitution for Wayne Arthurs, 6-3, 7-6 (13/11) in the dead fifth rubber.
Argentina, in the semi-finals for the third time in four years, have yet to win the Davis Cup although they were beaten by the United States at their only final appearance in 1981.
"This is incredible. To win the three points the way we did, it's really amazing and an incredible moment," Nalbandian said as dozens of flag-draped Argentine fans raucously celebrated outside the tennis stadium.
Nalbandian, who has a prickly relationship with Hewitt after a feisty match where both players bumped into each other during a changeover at this year's Australian Open, relished the opportunity of putting one over a flat and subdued Hewitt.
"I think he was very nervous today and that gave me an easier match," world No.10 Nalbandian said.
"When I saw that Lleyton was so nervous at the beginning of the match I changed how I wanted to play and knew he was going to miss more than me. It surprised me that he was so nervous.
"I felt that this was the biggest match of the series and I won it so easy so that makes me very happy. It's better that I beat him."
It was 23-year-old Nalbandian's first win over Hewitt in four meetings, among them a loss in the 2002 Wimbledon final, and took his Davis Cup singles record to 6-1 along with five unbeaten doubles wins.
The defeat ended Hewitt's amazing Davis Cup sequence of 10 straight singles wins in live rubbers going back to his last loss to Nicolas Escude in the 2001 final against France on the same drop-in grass court in Melbourne.
Hewitt was well off his game on Sunday and committed 45 unforced errors, six double faults and first served at just 58 percent.
"I didn't have a great day out there today. My ball-striking wasn't as good as I would have liked. He played solid from the start right to the end," Hewitt said.
"I felt a little flat out there, I just wasn't moving my feet as well and on that court you have to move your feet well ... I wasn't anywhere near my best at doing that."
Argentine captain Alberto Mancini praised Nalbandian's contribution to the team's momentous victory.
"He played at a great level. His three points were very important to the team. What David did was huge yesterday with Mariano Puerta (doubles) and today, but it's a team and he's part of the team."
Mancini paid tribute to his team for their pinnacle achievement against the fancied Australians on Argentina's least favoured grass surface.
"To beat Australia is really something huge. The players gave up a lot to be here to play at this level," he said.
"They had to think about Argentina and not themselves and that paid a lot, they left everything for the team."
Australian captain John Fitzgerald, who sits down shortly to talk with Tennis Australia about renewing his contract and rebuilding the Australian team, said of Argentina:" They have so many high-ranked players, they are a strong side and they were too good on the weekend.
"They had a team that was certainly able to share the workload and Nalbandian was quite outstanding."
Now it's the Slovaks or the Dutch in the next round and Nalbandian believes Argentina are much better for their win in Australia.
"Both of them are going to be tough ties, but for us playing away from home this here was the toughest one away on grass in Australia and of course they were the favourites, so this was the worse one for us. We feel confident now," he said.
AUSTRALIA 1 ARGENTINA 3
SYDNEY: Results of matches in the Davis Cup World Group tennis quarter-final between Australia and Argentina at Sydney International Tennis Centre here on Sunday:
REVERSE (SINGLES): David Nalbandian (ARG) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
SATURDAY (DOUBLES): David Nalbandian-Mariano Puerta (ARG) bt Lleyton Hewitt-Wayne Arthurs (AUS) 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-3.
Second singles: David Nalbandian (ARG) bt Wayne Arthurs (AUS) 6-3, 7-6 (10/8), 5-7, 6-2; Guillermo Coria (ARG) bt Peter Luczak (AUS) 6-3, 7-6 (13/11).
FRIDAY (FIRST SINGLES): Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) bt Guillermo Coria (ARG) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.
ARGENTINA WIN TIE 4-1, NEW ZEALAND 3 KUWAIT 2
WELLINGTON: Results of matches in the Davis Cup tennis Asia-Oceania Zone Group II semi-final between New Zealand and Kuwait in Auckland Sunday:
REVERSE SINGLES: Mohammad Al Gahreeb (KUW) bt Adam Thompson (NZL) 7-5, 6-3; Abdullah Magdas (KUW) bt Dan King-Turner (NZL) 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-3.
SATURDAY (DOUBLES): Mark Nielsen-Dan King-Turner (NZL) bt Mohammad Al Ghareeb-Mohammad-Khaliq Siddiq 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4.
Friday: Mark Nielsen (NZL) bt Abdullah Magdas (KUW) 7-6 (7/1), 1-6, 6-4, 6-1; GD Jones (NZL) bt Mohammad Al Gahreeb (KUW) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.
NEW ZEALAND WIN TIE 3-2, JAPAN 4 THAILAND 1
OSAKA: Results from the Davis Cup tennis Asia-Oceania Zone Group I playoff between Japan and Thailand here Sunday:
Japan 4 Thailand 1
Takao Suzuki (JPN) bt Paradorn Srichaphan (THA) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; Go Soeda (JPN) bt Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) 6-3, 6-3.
ON SATURDAY: Takao Suzuki/Satoshi Iwabuchi (JPN) bt Sonchat Ratiwatana/Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3).
ON FRIDAY: Takao Suzuki (JPN) bt Danai Udomchoke 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4; Paradorn Srichaphan (THA) bt Goichi Motomura (JPN) 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-0.
SLOVAKIA 4 NETHERLANDS 1
BRATISLAVA: Results from the Davis Cup World Group quarter-final tie between Slovakia and Netherlands here on Sunday.
Slovakia 4 Netherlands 1
Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) bt Peter Wessels (NED) 6-3, 6-1, 3-0 retired; Michal Mertinak (SVK) bt Melle Van Gemerden (NED) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Saturday: Karol Beck/Michal Mertinak (SVK) bt Melle van Gemerden/Paul Haarhuis (NED) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
Friday: Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) bt Raemon Sluiter (NED) 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; Peter Wessels (NED) bt Karol Beck (SVK) 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2.
RUSSIA 3 FRANCE 2
MOSCOW: Results from the Davis Cup World Group quarter-final tie between Russia and France here on Sunday:
Russia 3 France 2
Igor Andreev (RUS) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 6-0, 6-2, 6-1; Nikolai Davydenko (RUS) bt Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
SATURDAY: Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra (FRA) bt Igor Andreev/Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2.
FRIDAY: Nikolai Davydenko (RUS) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 7-5, 6-2, 7-5;
Richard Gasquet (FRA) bt Igor Andreev (RUS) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).
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