Malaga, Sept 21: Argentina doubles players keep Davis Cup hopes alive by beating Spain. Argentine duo Agustin Calleri and Lucas Arnold clinched a 6-3 1-6 6-4 6-2 victory over Alex Corretja and Albert Costa on Saturday (September 20) to cut Spain's Davis Cup semi-final lead to 2-1 and keep the tie alive. Spain, leading 2-0 after singles wins for Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya on Friday, were comprehensively outplayed in the doubles and will need to win at least one of Sunday's reverse singles to reach a final against either Australia or Switzerland. Spain started out well, but Argentina took the first set. The Spaniards came back strongly in the second, as Corretja started to dominate the match with a series of forehand winners.

Spain took a 2-0 lead at the start of the third set, but Costa double-faulted to hand Argentina three break-points in the next and that proved to be the turning point.


Argentina broke the Corretja serve edge 3-2 ahead. A dispute over a Spanish serve disrupted the match, bringing the referee onto court and a coin was thrown at the Spaniards.


The Spanish pair then quickly found themselves 4-1 down in the fourth and even the backing of a 14,000 crowd could not inspire a home recovery. Australia were leading Switzerland 2-1 after the doubles in the other semi-final in Melbourne.


Results (Spanish names first): Saturday's doubles: Alex Corretja/Albert Costa lost to Lucas Arnold/Agustin Calleri 3-6 6-1 4-6 2-6 Friday's singles: Carlos Moya beat Mariano Zabaleta 5-7 2-6 6-2 6-0 6-1 Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Gaston Gaudio 6-4 6-0 6-0


Sunday's singles: Juan Carlos Ferrero v Mariano Zabaleta Carlos Moya v Gaston Ga


Bureau Report