Spain held off a comeback by Argentina while defending champion Russia, France and the US cruised into the Fed Cup semifinals on Sunday.
Spain needed a victory by a pair who hadn't played doubles together to finish off Argentina, which won both reverse singles on Sunday to level the first-round tie 2-2.
Spain, with a shot at winning its sixth Fed Cup in 15 years, will travel to France for the semifinals on July 9-10. France put away Austria 4-1.
Russia downed Italy 4-1, and will host the US, which routed an overmatched Belgium 5-0.
At Jerez, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Nuria Llagostera Vives combined for the first time in competition to beat Argentina's Gisela Dulko and Maria-Emilia Salerni 6-4, 6-4 and nail an overall 3-2 victory.
Spain led 2-0 after Saturday's singles but in the reverse singles, Dulko swept past Marta Marrero, a late substitute for Medina Garrigues, 6-0, 6-3, and Mariana Diaz-Oliva avoided a slump at 5-2 in the first set to beat Llagostera Vives 7-6 (6), 6-4.
"I didn't breathe easily until the last point," said Spain coach Miguel Margets. "We're really proud because we're among the four best teams in the world, and that was our goal coming in."
At Brindisi, world No. 5 Elena Dementieva continued to struggle, losing her serve five times for the second day in a row, and had to save four match points before overcoming Italy No. 1 Francesca Schiavone 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0 and putting Russia up 2-1.
Elena Bovina, substituting for Dinara Safina, then beat Maria-Elena Camerin 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in two hours to give Russia an unbeatable 3-1 lead.
"There was a lot of pressure on me to win but there would have been more if Elena had not won her match," Bovina said. "It was great and we look forward to playing at home in front of our fans in July."
Russia should be able to count on a full-strength side against the Americans. French Open champion Anastasia Myskina withdrew injured this week, while Wimbledon winner Maria Sharapova and US Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova were omitted from the first-round tie.
The Americans hold a 4-0 lead over Russia in Fed Cup play, but they have not met since the Russian women surged to the top of the game.
Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport needed only 48 minutes on Sunday to give the US team an unassailable 3-0 lead against Belgium when she beat Els Callens 6-4, 6-0. Venus Williams won her second singles, and Davenport and Corina Morariu combined to win the doubles.
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