Andy Roddick rejoices with the national flag after the US beat Belarus in the Davis Cup semi-final in Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday

London: The United States swept past Belarus on Saturday to clinch their first Davis Cup final appearance since 1997.

Twins Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Belarus? Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov to give the Americans an unassailable 3-0 lead in the semi-final tie in Charleston.

The Bryans, who are unbeaten in Davis Cup matches, won 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 to finish off Belarus after world No. 2 Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish had won their singles matches on Friday.

The Americans will face Spain. Teenager Rafael Nadal sent Spain through to the final with a scintillating 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 victory over France?s Arnaud Clement on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Nadal, skipping, jumping and punching the air on every big point, took two hours 12 minutes to beat Clement and give Spain a 3-1 winning lead.

It will be a third final appearance in five years for Spain, who beat Australia to win the Davis Cup for the first time in 2000 in Barcelona and lost away to the same side last year.

This time they will have the advantage of hosting the final against the Americans, almost certainly on clay.

Nadal had carried his partner Tommy Robredo to victory in Saturday?s doubles against Clement and Michael Llodra to put Spain 2-1 ahead and on the strength of that performance, Spanish captain Jordi Arrese promoted him to the reverse singles in place of Carlos Moya.

Trailing 1-0 after Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu had upset Carlos Moya on Friday, Spain finally made home advantage count by grabbing both points on Saturday.

Juan Carlos Ferrero completed a 6-3, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 win over an injured Fabrice Santoro in a match held over due to bad light before Robredo and Nadal edged past France?s Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Santoro finished the match with a painful wrist injury, leaving French captain Guy Forget to draft in Clement as a replacement in the doubles.

?I woke up this morning and could barely hold a racket... it was warm so I could play on. But you can?t beat a great player like Juan Carlos when you?re injured,? said Santoro.

France?s new-look doubles pairing had plenty of chances but the Spaniards prevailed in five error-strewn sets lasting three hours 47 minutes at Alicante?s Plaza de Toros. ?We?ve taken a big step towards the final with this win,? said Spanish captain Jordi Arrese.

Meanwhile, Australia completed a comfortable 4-1 victory over Morocco in their Davis Cup World Group play-off after splitting Sunday?s reverse singles.

Mounir El Aarej gave the Moroccans their only win of the lopsided tie, beating Todd Reid 6-2, 6-3, before doubles specialist Todd Woodbridge crushed Mehdi Ziadi 6-0, 6-2 in the final match.

With Australia already assured of victory after winning Friday?s opening singles and Saturday?s doubles to take an unbeatable 3-0 lead, the teams used Sunday?s dead rubbers to blood new players.

Lleyton Hewitt stood down for Reid to make his Davis Cup debut while Ziadi made his first appearance for the North Africans. Reid, ranked 105th in the world, was favoured to beat the 428th-ranked El Aarej but nerves got the better of the 20-year-old Australian and he folded in straight sets.

Ziadi, the African junior champion ranked 1,022nd in the world, also failed to make an impression against his more experienced opponent.

Woodbridge no longer has an official ranking after he quit singles to concentrate on doubles play, but the 33-year-old was far too streetwise for Ziadi as he won with the loss of just two games.

Croatia and 2002 champions Russia also secured their places among the 16 nations who will battle it out for the Davis Cup next season after taking winning 3-0 leads.

Romania and Germany will carry 2-1 advantages into the final day of their ties, while Britain and Austria were locked at 1-1 after bad light forced an early halt to their doubles encounter.

In Moscow, a rejuvenated Marat Safin vowed to help Russia win back the Davis Cup next year after teaming up with Mikhail Youzhny for a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 win over Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.

Humbled by Belarus in the first round this year, Safin believes Russia can get back to the top. ?We have a new, young team, which is capable of doing great things in the near future,? said the former US Open champion. ?(Igor) Andreev is turning into a top-class player, Youzhny is still young and capable of repeating his Davis Cup heroics and myself ? we have a core of a pretty good team here.?

In Asuncion, Jiri Novak and Radek Stepanek gave the Czech Republic a winning 3-0 lead over Paraguay while Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu earned Chile an unbeatable 3-0 cushion over Japan in Santiago. (Reuters)