LYON, France (AP)—Gilles Simon beat Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 6-3 and Arnaud Clement enjoyed a comprehensive 7-5, 6-1 win against Horacio Zeballos as France completed a 5-0 rout of Argentina in their Davis Cup semifinal on Sunday.
With a place in the final already secured after victory in Saturday’s doubles gave the French an unassailable 3-0 lead, captain Guy Forget rested Gael Monfils and Michael Llodra for Sunday’s reverse singles and chose Simon and Clement instead.
Simon did not face a single break point and closed out the match on serve after breaking Schwank’s serve for the first time in the eighth game of the final set.
Clement then broke Zeballos’s serve four times in taking little more than an hour to win.
France, which routed defending champion Spain 5-0 in the quarterfinals, won the last of its nine Davis Cup titles in 2001 and lost to Russia at home in the 2002 final.
Forget’s team plays either the Czech Republic or Serbia in the Dec. 3-5 final.
Simon had six aces in the first set and won a closely contested tiebreak with a forehand volley.
The first break-point chance of the match for either player came in the seventh game of the second set, when Schwank had to save his serve three times with Simon pressuring him.
Simon’s 10th ace of the match set up two match points at 6-4 up, but schwank saved both and then set up a set point of his own with a neat drop shot. He then leveled the match with a powerful forehand return on Simon’s serve.