Jose Acasuso and Guillermo Canas guided Argentina to a second World Team Championship on Saturday with victory over Russia.

In the first singles match of the final, Acasuso overcame a weary Marat Safin, who retired with the Argentine leading 2-6 6-3 3-0.

The Russian called it quits after his lower back stiffened.

"I couldn't serve in the beginning of the third set," Safin said.

"It was quite bad, otherwise I wouldn't have retired. We had a good opportunity to win this year."

Despite struggling early on, Acasuso found his form and, as Safin wilted, took control of the match.

"I felt solid," Acasuso said. "Safin couldn't find a weak spot."

Heading into his match with a 1-0 advantage, Canas seized on Yevgeny Kafelnikov's sagging confidence to win 6-4 6-2 and seal Argentina's first win since 1980, when they defeated Italy.

For Russia it was the third successive year they had finished runner-up.

Argentina's doubles team of Lucas Arnold and Gaston Etlis finished off the dispirited Kafelnikov and Safin's replacement Andrei Cherkasov 6-4 6-1 to end the day with a 3-0 victory.

"It's like a dream," Canas said. "I think I played my best match of the week.

"It's nice to win today and to give this present to my country."

The Argentines came to Dusseldorf with few expectations, having been granted a wild card slot into the tournament after Croatia pulled out following an injury to Goran Ivanisevic.

"When we came here we thought we had a chance to win the tournament, but we didn't expect this result," Canas said.

"We will be here next year to try to win the title again."