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

Twins Bob and Mike Bryan [ Images ] defeated Belarus's Max Mirnyi [ Images ] 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 number two Andy Roddick [ Images ] and Mardy Fish [ Images ] had won their singles matches on Friday.

The Americans will face 2000 champions Spain or France [ Images ] in the final, with Spain looking favourites after Tommy Robredo [ Images ] and Rafael Nadal [ Images ] claimed a tense doubles victory to give them a 2-1 lead going into Sunday's singles.

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

Juan Carlos Ferrero [ Images ] completed a 6-3, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 win over an injured Fabrice Santoro [ Images ] in a match held over due to bad light before Robredo and Nadal edged past France's Arnaud Clement [ Images ] 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.

BIG STEP

"We've taken a big step towards the final with this win," said Spanish captain Jordi Arrese.

Australia [ Images ] preserved their World Group status when Wayne Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge recorded a 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Moroccans Mounir El Aarej and Mehdi Tahiri for an unbeatable 3-0 lead in their playoff tie.

Croatia [ Images ] and 2002 champions Russia [ Images ] 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 [ Images ] 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 [ Images ], a rejuvenated Marat Safin [ Images ] 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 U.S. 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 [ Images ] and Nicolas Massu [ Images ] earned Chile an unbeatable 3-0 cushion over Japan [ Images ] in Santiago.