Rafael Nadal celebrates his victory over Sam Querrey in Madrid on Friday. (Reuters)

Madrid: David Ferrer rallied to beat Andy Roddick in five sets and put Spain in firm control of their Davis Cup semi-final against reigning champions the United States on Friday.

The fifth-ranked Ferrer beat No. 8 Roddick 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6 to give the hosts a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series after top-ranked Rafael Nadal beat Sam Querrey 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Spain, which hasn’t lost a clay-court Davis Cup series in nine years, could secure its sixth Davis Cup final appearance on Saturday when Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez team up to play against American pair Mike Bryan and Mardy Fish in doubles. Reverse singles are played on Sunday and the winner will face either Argentina or Russia in the final.

The US has won a record 32 Davis Cup titles but is using a makeshift squad due to late substitutes.

Roddick looked on course for a victory after dominating the second and third sets, but Ferrer took the fourth thanks to an early break. Roddick then volleyed a backhand into the net to lose his serve in the 13th game of the fifth, letting Ferrer serve out for the win. Roddick is now 0-3 against top-10 players in Davis Cup play.

Earlier, Nadal overcame Querrey’s booming serve and early momentum before settling in to dictate the match on his favourite clay surface to overcome the 39th-ranked Querrey, who was making his Davis Cup debut as a late substitute for James Blake.

Nadal took control in the third set, breaking Querrey in the fourth game with a crosscourt forehand and celebrating with a running jump and fist-pump.

The Spaniard never looked back, hitting winner after winner and breaking Querrey two more times to close out the match.

“It was very difficult,” Nadal said. “Never in my life have I had so many service points scored against me on a clay court. It’s very important for us to start with a victory.”

Ferrer won an even first set, before Roddick used his strong serve to go on a run, securing the second set with an ace as he served out to love.

Roddick then took a 2-0 lead in the third after winning 12 straight points before saving a triple-break opportunity from Ferrer in the seventh game.

But Ferrer broke his opponent immediately to start the fourth set and set up the decider after beating Roddick with a passing shot in the 10th game.

Roger Federer beat Kristof Vliegen 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 6-2 Friday to give Switzerland a 2-0 lead over Belgium in their Davis Cup World Group playoff.

The US Open champion improved his career record in Davis Cup singles to 25-6 as he defeated the 95th-ranked Vliegen in just over two hours.

Earlier, Stanislas Wawrinka — who won Olympic gold with Federer in men’s doubles in Beijing last month — beat Steve Darcis 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in a four-hour match to give the Swiss the lead.

Seventh-ranked David Nalbandian beat Russian Igor Andreev in straight sets to give Argentina a 1-0 lead in its Davis Cup semi-final Friday.

Nalbandian won 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 at Parque Roca Stadium in front of a partisan sell-out crowd of 14,000. (AP)