Rafa Nadal thrashed Juan Monaco and David Ferrer rallied to fell Juan Martin Del Potro in five thrilling sets to give Spain a 2-0 lead over Argentina in the Davis Cup final on Friday.
Playing on his favourite clay surface before a rowdy crowd at the Olympic Stadium, Nadal got Spain's bid for a third trophy in four years off to a good start with a 6-1 6-1 6-2 destruction of 26th-ranked Monaco, the world number two's training partner.
Nadal told a news conference he tried to lift Monaco's spirits in the dressing room after the match.
"He hasn't played that bad as to get that result but it's just I have made very few mistakes," the 10-times grand slam champion said.
"He's one of my best friends and I was in the locker room talking with him. He knew it was because I played especially well and not because he played especially bad."
As night fell over the Andalucian capital, the tenacious Ferrer fought back from two sets to one down to beat Del Potro 6-2 6-7 3-6 6-4 6-3 after almost five hours of attritional tennis and send the red and yellow clad home support into raptures.
Needing to win Saturday's doubles and Sunday's two reverse singles in the best-of-five tie, Argentina face a seemingly impossible task to secure a first Davis Cup trophy in their fourth final with Nadal apparently unbeatable on the red dust.
The muscular Mallorcan clubbed 27 winners on the specially constructed indoor court, which straddles the running track at one end of the arena, 20 of them on his fearsome forehand.
BRUTAL EASE
Monaco looked powerless as he was dismissed with brutal ease on an unusually damp afternoon in Seville.
Showing no sign of end-of-season fatigue, Nadal took his Davis Cup singles record on clay to 15-0 as Spain sought to add to their four titles against an Argentina side they upset to win the trophy in Mar del Plata in 2008.
After winning just two games in the opening two sets, Monaco made a better fist of the third.
Nadal, though, seemed to crush his spirit in the fifth game after an incredible rally that had both players scrambling all over the court and brought King Juan Carlos of Spain to his feet.
The point, which left Monaco with a bloodied left knee and a bruised wrist, secured Nadal his sixth break of serve and he broke again for a 5-2 lead before serving out the match to love.
Monaco was realistic about playing a man who has only lost one five-set match on clay in his professional career, to Robin Soderling at the 2009 French Open.
"I'm very sad because nobody likes to lose this way," the Argentine said. "But I am also aware that in front of me I had one of the best tennis players in history."
Spanish pair Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco will take on David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank in Saturday's doubles.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
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