SPAIN became the first country to qualify for the Davis Cup semifinals following victory in the doubles to give the side an unassailable 3-0 lead over Germany in Bremen on Saturday.

Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez earned their side a berth into the last four with a 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 2-6, 12-10 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner in four hours, 45 minutes.

On Friday, Rafael Nadal returned to Davis Cup action following an absence of a year and a half, beating Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (7/5), 6-0, 6-3, and David Ferrer got the better of Kohlschreiber 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Spain will play either the United States or France in the Sept. 19-21 semifinals. The United States leads 2-1 after Saturday’s second day in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the United States.

“We gave it everything. We fought so hard but at the end there we just got the unlucky end of things,” said Bremen Kohlschreiber.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina’s David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas won the doubles against Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 17 minutes. The win gave Argentina a 2-1 advantage going into the final day of the tie.

Russia moved into a 2-1 lead against Czech Republic after Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev came from a set down to defeat Radek Stepanek and Pavel Vizner 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

France held firm in the doubles against the United States with Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra beating Bob and Mike Bryan 6-7 (7/9), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.(SD-Agencies)