KEY POINTS:
MOSCOW - Argentine number one David Nalbandian overpowered Russia's Marat Safin 6-4 6-4 6-4 in the second singles match of the Davis Cup final today to put the teams at 1-1 at the end of the first day.
Nikolay Davydenko had beaten Juan Ignacio Chela 6-1 6-2 5-7 6-4 in the opening rubber of the three-day tie at Moscow's Olympic arena to give the home team a 1-0 lead.
Russia are aiming to win their second Davis Cup title, following their triumph in 2002, while Argentina are chasing their maiden crown.
Nalbandian never looked back after breaking former world number one Safin in the opening game of the first set to the wild cheers of several hundred vocal Argentine supporters, including former soccer World Cup-winning captain Diego Maradona.
Nalbandian repeated the trick by taking the early lead in the second set.
The world number eight raced to a 5-1 lead before Safin showed some resistance, breaking back to get to 5-4.
Nalbandian held on to clinch the second set with an easy backhand volley, then secured a key break in the seventh game of the third set to close out the match with a powerful ace down the middle as the Argentine contingent, almost all dressed in national soccer team jerseys, began celebrating.
Safin, who fired 22 aces but hit seven double faults and committed 57 unforced errors in the two-hour 25-minute encounter, blamed the fast indoor court for his defeat.
"This surface suits him perfectly," said the 26th-ranked Muscovite, who had a heated discussion with Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev during the match.
"I would like to apologise to Mr Tarpishchev," Safin added. "There's no hard feelings between us but you must understand this surface didn't suit me. I couldn't run well, I couldn't move well, I was totally uncomfortable on the court today.
"But you must give Nalbandian credit. He played great and it would be hard for Nikolay to beat him on Sunday."
Nalbandian said: "Yes, the surface helped me a little bit but I played really solid tennis and that was the difference today."
Davydenko finally broke his jinx against Chela after losing all his five previous matches to the unheralded Argentine.
The Russian dominated the first two sets, breaking Chela twice in the opener and twice more in the second to go up 2-0.
The 33rd-ranked Argentine won the third set but the world number three regained control in the fourth, wrapping up the contest on his second match point in just over three hours.
"Davydenko played incredible tennis for the first two sets and I was also nervous, so I had no chance," Chela said.
"Only in the third set I had my chances to get back into the match and also in the fourth. Both of us were getting tired but I did what I could. Unfortunately it wasn't enough."
Davydenko, who had his own brand of VIP support headed by former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in the 10,500 crowd, took victory in his stride.
"If you saw me play in (the Masters Cup) in Shanghai and other tournaments, you would notice that I always start well but then get tired in the second set," said the Russian, who committed 64 unforced errors to Chela's 55.
"Here, I played really well in the first two sets but began to tire and was losing concentration in the third. But fortunately I was able to hang on."
In Saturday's doubles, Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri are due to take on Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov.
- REUTERS
