Davis Cup final ends in defeat again for Argentina

SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — The Davis Cup final ended in another defeat for Argentina, the South Americans' bid for their first title coming up short against a Spain team that has dominated the competition for more than a decade.

Rafael Nadal won his 20th straight Davis Cup singles match by coming from behind in a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (0) victory over Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday to secure an insurmountable 3-1 lead for Spain in the best-of-five series.

The victory secured Spain's fifth Davis Cup title since 2000 and its third in four years. Nadal has won the competition three times, adding to his tally of 10 majors and an Olympic title.

Argentina is the only nation to have reached four finals and never won.

"With time we have managed to produce some good teams, but unfortunately we haven't been able to win yet," said David Nalbandian, who helped Argentina win Saturday's doubles in what was his third final.

"We arrived here in great form and trained well for a tough series knowing how good Spain is, so we can't feel upset because every player gave his all. We did all we could to win."

Del Potro left the court at Olympic Stadium in tears for the second time in three days, having also let slip a 2-1 lead in the five-set loss in his opening singles match to David Ferrer that took nearly five hours on Friday.

Before that, Del Potro's laser-like forehand as he slapped forehand winner after forehand winner to inflict Nadal's heaviest set defeat in 21 matches in the competition had the visitors dreaming of an upset.

Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, broke Nadal the first four chances he could — and eight times in total — to lead by a set and 40-0 before things started to go awry.

The Argentine started making a number of his 64 unforced errors to let Nadal break back and gain momentum at a time when he had seemed lost on his favorite surface.

Nadal found his rhythm and confidence to take the second and third sets before Del Potro fought back in the fourth.

But while the 11th-ranked Argentine showed off his ferocious forehand to account for most of his 25 winners, sprayed shots in the tiebreaker indicated that nerves had again appeared to creep into his game. Nadal sealed the match with a forehand for his 35th winner.

Spain's record run on home clay stretched to a record 21 series. The hosts' last loss in Spain was against Brazil in 1999.

"On home clay they are probably one of the best teams in history," Argentina captain Tito Vazquez said.

For Del Potro, it was another disappointing series after having also dropped his lone singles match at home in Mar del Plata three years ago to Feliciano Lopez. His record in Davis Cup singles play is 9-4 compared to a combined 37-4 by Nadal and Ferrer.

"It'll be a nice memory at some point despite the defeat," Del Potro said.