Croatia's defence of their Davis Cup crown came to an end on Sunday as Argentina completed a nerve-racking 3-2 win on the final day of their World Group quarter-final tie in Zagreb.

Not even the courageous efforts of Croatia captain Ivan Ljubicic could stave off the visitors, who secured victory when Juan Ignacio Chela beat Sasa Tuksar 3-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) in the deciding rubber.

Ljubicic, who came from two sets behind to defeat Agustin Calleri on Friday, had drawn the tie level at 2-2 by brushing aside David Nalbandian in straight sets - 6-3 6-4 6-4 - in Sunday's opening singles rubber.

The inexperienced Tuskar, filling in for the injured Mario Ancic, could not follow his skipper's lead however and fell to Chela in four hours and 21 minutes as Argentina sealed a home semi-final against Australia.

Argentina captain Alberto Mancini was full of praise for Chela, who battled through the pain barrier to see his nation home.

"We had to go through a lot of suffering before we won," he told TyC Sports. "Juan was suffering from cramp and I think he was very nervous.

"It was really terrible for me for me to watch. The match wasn't over until the last point because it was a very tough, close match."

Looking ahead to the semi-finals, Mancini added: "I hope we play against the best players Australia have to offer.

"In this tie (against Croatia), some of their best players were absent. I hope Australia come to Argentina with their best squad."

Australia had already qualified for the last four before they came out for their two singles rubbers against Belarus on Sunday.

And they had no problem completing a 5-0 whitewash of the eastern Europeans, with Wayne Arthurs beating Serguei Tarasevitch 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 and Chris Guccione seeing off Alexandr Zotov 6-1 6-3.

Elsewhere, Russia marched into the semi-finals after sealing a 4-1 win over hosts France.

Dmitry Tursunov's 6-1 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 7-5 victory over Richard Gasquet in the day's opening singles rubber gave them an unassailable 3-1 lead.

And Mikhail Youzhny rounded off a great weekend for the Russians by dispatching Michael Llodra 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-3).

Russia will play the USA in the other World Group semi-final after the latter took an unassailable 3-1 cushion against Chile on Sunday following Andy Roddick's singles victory over Fernando Gonzalez.

Roddick won 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes, making James Blake's defeat to Paul Capdeville later in the day an irrelevance.