Nadal takes Spain to Davis Cup finals

CORDOBA, Spain, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal posted another straight-set victory Sunday and assured Spain is returning to the Davis Cup finals with a win over France.

France knocked Spain, which won the Davis Cup in 2008 and 2009, out with a sweep in the quarterfinals last year, but the Nadal-led Spaniards got revenge with a 4-1 win in this weekend's best-of-five semifinals series.

Spain will go against Argentina, which defeated defending champion Serbia in its semifinal, for the Davis Cup title. The finals are set for Dec. 2-4.

Nadal, who dropped just four games in winning the opening match Friday, picked up the decisive third series point with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's first singles match.

The world No. 2-ranked Nadal didn't face a break point in either of his Davis Cup matches this weekend. He finished off six of the 17 break-point chances he had versus Tsonga and had just eight unforced errors.

Fernando Verdasco topped Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-1 in the final match of the series.

Verdasco also didn't drop serve in beating Gasquet and won nearly three-quarters of the points on serve.