KEY POINTS:
Spain pulled level with Argentina in the Davis Cup tennis final when Feliciano Lopez stunned an ailing Juan Martin del Potro in four sets.
Lopez, ranked 31, won 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 in nearly three-and-a-half hours to equalise David Nalbandian's straight sets win over David Ferrer in the
opening rubber.
Del Potro, already troubled by a toe injury, appeared to pull a muscle in his right leg in the sixth game of the fourth set and needed about 10 minutes of treatment.
"Tennis matches are like that," said Lopez, who was chosen by captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario ahead of the higher-ranked Fernando Verdasco. "I was a bit nervous at the start, I got over it in the second set and began to believe in myself more. It was a victory over myself."
"To beat a top 10 player this way, in a Davis Cup final away from home, is the happiest moment in my career. There were moments in the second and third sets where I felt I could not have played any better."
Del Potro said it was too early to say whether his injury would keep him out of tomorrow's reverse singles.
"He played really well, above himself," said the 20-year-old of his opponent. "I'm a bit surprised by the standard he played. He didn't commit double faults, his second serve was almost as good as his first and I couldn't find a way past him."
Del Potro, ranked ninth, swept through the first set in 38 minutes and appeared set to carry on where Nalbandian had left off. Lopez had other ideas and hit back to win the next two sets in tiebreaks after all games went with serve.
He reeled off the first tiebreak 7-2 and, in the second, came back from 4-2 behind to win four points in a row and clinch the breaker 7-4 with an ace.
With the crowd at the Polideportivo Malvinas arena increasingly quiet, Lopez continued his dominance by breaking in the fourth game of the fourth set, helped by two Del Potro double faults, to take control.
Already looking fatigued after a long season that has seen him leap from obscurity into the top 10, Del Potro managed to break back immediately but then suffered his injury in the next game. He soldiered on but Lopez wrapped up the match comfortably.
Argentina, unbeaten at home in 10 years, went into the final as firm favourites to win the competition for the first time against opponents missing injured world number one Rafael Nadal.
Ironically, the canny Argentines had changed the venue from a clay court - Nadal's favourite surface - to an indoor court but were then caught out when Nadal pulled out.
But the first match went according to the script as Nalbandian thumped Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in 1hr 59m.
"I played well from start to finish, I was always in control of the situation and the public was incredible," said Nalbandian.
Meanwhile New Zealand's GD Jones and American Kevin Anderson are through to the doubles final at a US$50,000 ($96,432) event in Knoxville, the United States. Jones and Anderson beat the Ratiwatana brothers from Thailand, Sanchai and Sonchat, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the semifinals. They will play top-seeded Americans Rajeev Ram and Bobby Reynolds in the final.
And in the Philippines, Sacha Jones is through to the semifinals of an ITF US$10,000 event. Jones beat Indonesia's Lavinia Tanata 6-2 7-6 to advance to the semifinals where she will play Korean Seo-Kyung Kang.
