MOSCOW -- Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov steered Russia into the Davis Cup semifinals, clinching a crunch doubles match against Sweden to stretch into an unassailable 3-0 lead.

The pair fought out the doubles tie against Thomas Johansson and Jonas Bjorkman over five sets and more than three-and-a-half hours on the red clay of Moscow's Luzhniki Sports Palace, in a match that could have gone either way right up to the last minute.

The hosts finally secured victory 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a thrilling exhibition of textbook volleying from the Swedes and power serving from the Russians.

"We had our chances in this match, but I don't think we took them at the right time," said a disappointed Johansson, the winner of this year's Australian Open.

"Yevgeny was returning really, really well the whole time and Safin came out with the shots when they were needed. It was disappointing as I felt we were the better team for four sets."

The Swedes, with doubles specialist Bjorkman, initially looked to be the neater and more technically precise side, putting up an impressive, coordinated display at the net and covering the court comprehensively.

But the Russians, physically a bigger and more powerful side, grew in confidence and aggression as the match wore on, their spirits boosted by a vocal and excitable home crowd.

Kafelnikov said the battle had been hard fought right to the end, with two sets going to tiebreaks, and said the Russians had not taken anything for granted.

"Frankly, I don't think there was a turning point per se. We played the match point by point and we eventually won 6-3 in the last set," he said.

"We were both fully motivated for this game and gave it 100 percent. We fully understood that if we won the doubles then that would be it, finished."

On Friday, Kafelnikov and Safin both won their singles matches against Thomas Enqvist and Johansson giving the Russians a 2-0 lead going into the doubles.

Former world number one and 2000 U.S. Open champion Safin, who has often been accused of not taking the sport seriously enough, joked Saturday's victory meant they could now enjoy the weekend.

"We wanted to finish today because it's Saturday, so now we can relax and enjoy ourselves," he said.

Kafelnikov, 28, who has made no secret of the fact he would like a Davis Cup title before quitting the sport, joked about his retirement date.

"I'm just sure it (retirement) will happen in the first week of December when we win the Davis Cup," he laughed.

Russia, who are currently sixth in the Davis Cup rankings, will play either Argentina or Croatia for a place in the 2002 Davis Cup final.

Russian team captain Shamil Tarpischev said if they were to play the Argentine claycourters "it won't be on a slow surface."

France takes 2-1 lead on Czech Republic
PAU, France -- Fabrice Santoro and Michael Llodra have put France back in the driving seat in their Davis Cup quarterfinal with the Czech Republic, winning their doubles match to hand the hosts and champions a 2-1 lead.

The pair, runners-up at the Australian Open earlier in the year but making their Davis Cup debut as a doubles partnership, overwhelmed Jiri Novak and David Rikl 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in just 99 minutes.

After two hard-fought singles matches on Friday which had left France and the Czech Republic locked at 1-1, the French regained consistency and confidence in the doubles.

Coach Guy Forget decided to plump for former squad hitting partner Llodra after leaving Cedric Pioline out of the side.

But the first few games of the doubles might have left the coach doubting the wisdom of that decision as Llodra, visibly nervous in his debut, lost his opening serve.

France, however, fought back swiftly as left-handed Llodra, often compared to former French Open runner-up Henri Leconte, gained confidence and unleashed several impressive volleyed winners.

Novak, who tamed the previously unbeaten Nicolas Escude in four tight sets in the second singles on Friday, could hardly put a foot right.

The Czech pair, ranked fifth in the world, let the first set go 6-3 and bowed 6-1 in the second.

The visitors rallied slightly in the third set -- and led 4-2 after an early break -- but once again France rose to the challenge and took four games in a row to wrap up the match on a double fault by Rikl.

On Sunday, French number one Sebastien Grosjean takes on Novak while Escude will face Bohdan Ulihrach.

The French need one victory from the final two matches to secure a spot in the semis.

Croatia trims Argentina's lead to 2-1
BUENOS AIRES -- Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Ljubicic recovered to beat Guillermo Canas and Lucas Arnold 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 8-6 in the doubles and reduce Argentina's lead to 2-1 in their Davis Cup quarterfinal.

The Argentines, having won both Friday's singles, looked set to cruise into the semifinals when Canas and Arnold took the first two sets at the Buenos Aires Lawen Tennis Club and seemed to be on course to settle the tie with a day to spare.

But Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic, who did not play in the singles because of a nagging shoulder injury, and Ljubicic found new strength after a two-hour rain interruption in the middle of the fourth set.

The Croatians won nine straight games to pull the match level at 2-2 and then won a hard-fought deciding set in the 14th game.

Croatia began cautiously, playing from the baseline while the Argentines, who won the opening set when Canas served to love in the 10th game, attacked the net.

Ljubicic made numerous unforced errors as Argentina romped away with the second set in half an hour.

But the Croatians gave the first signs they would not be easy to beat when they raced to a 3-0 lead in the third set.

The crowd, which had so far given its wildest cheers when the country's former women's No. 1 Gabriela Sabatini took her seat, began to get behind its players.

Canas and Arnold pulled back to 3-3, breaking both Croatians, but it was a short-lived recovery.

As rain began to drizzle down, the visiting doubles pair took the set by winning the next three games.

Ivanisevic became stronger while Ljubicic improved, finding the form that helped him take the first set of his singles match against Gaston Gaudio on Friday, and the pair reeled off the fourth set to love.

The match was interrupted for two hours because of heavy rain midway through the set and both pairs came out refreshed for a titanic struggle in the deciding set, which lasted one minute short of an hour.

Argentina failed to capitalize on a match point when leading 5-4 and then handed Croatia the initiative when Canas lost his serve to hand them a 7-6 lead.

An Ivanisevic volley gave Croatia victory on its first set point to keep alive the country's hopes of reaching the semifinals for the first time.

Juan Ignacio Chela meets Ljubicic in Sunday's first reverse singles and Gaudio is scheduled to play Ivo Karlovic, who stood in for Ivanisevic on Friday, as Argentina seeks its first semifinal berth since 1990.

The winners of the tie go on to meet Russia.