David Nalbandian (right) and Mariano Puerta celebrate their win against Wayne Arthurs and Lleyton Hewitt in Sydney on Saturday. (AP)

Paris: Argentina and France put themselves in sight of the Davis Cup semi-finals Saturday as Australia and Russia squandered crucial home advantage.

David Nalbandian was the hero for Argentina on the grass courts of Sydney as he beat Wayne Arthurs in their suspended singles before teaming up with Mariano Puerta to down Lleyton Hewitt and Arthurs 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-3 in the doubles to go 2-1 up.

In Moscow, the specialist doubles pair of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra, playing together for the 25th time, put France 2-1 ahead with victory over Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev.

In the two other quarter finals, Slovakia, who put out holders Spain in the last round, were 2-1 ahead of the Netherlands while, in Split, Croatia and Romania were locked 1-1 ahead of their doubles.

Australia, the 28-time champions, had started their tie as favourites against the clay-court bred South Americans and Hewitt had given them the perfect start, winning his opening singles against Guillermo Coria Friday.

But Nalbandian had levelled the tie with a 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 6-2 win over world No. 76 Arthurs and then teamed up with Puerta to take the doubles against an Australian team missing doubles specialist Todd Woodbridge who retired earlier this month.

Hewitt, the world No. 2, must now win his showdown with Nalbandian in the first of the two reverse singles Sunday to keep Australia alive in the tie with Arthurs facing a potentially deciding final rubber with Guillermo Coria.

Should Hewitt level the tie, it will be all down to Arthurs to beat Coria in a situation reminiscent of his devastating four-set loss to Nicolas Escude in the last rubber of the 2001 final against France on grass in Melbourne.

In Moscow, clement and Llodra put France 2-1 up beating Andreev, a late replacement for the injured Marat Safin, and Youzhny 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 in two hours 54 minutes on the clay courts of the city’s Olympic indoor stadium.

In Bratislava, Karol Beck and Michal Mertinak gave the home side a 2-1 advantage over The Netherlands.

The pair rallied from a set down against Dutch duo Melle van Gemerden and Paul Haarhuis to come through 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 winners after three hours and 15 minutes. (AFP)