Defending champions Belgium were eliminated from the Fed Cup on Sunday when they were beaten by Italy in Bologna.
It was not a major surprise to see the visitors beaten, given they were without their two star players in Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.
However, they had gone into the final day level at one rubber apiece.
Silvia Farina-Elia put the Italians 2-1 ahead with a 6-2 7-6 win over Els Callens before Rita Grande sealed the victory by beating Caroline Maes 6-4 7-6.
Italy won the academic doubles as well to record a 4-1 match win which means they now face the Slovak Republic in the last four.
The Slovaks beat France in Bratislava, also by a 4-1 scoreline.
The tie was also level going into the final day, but the hosts took charge.
Slovakian number one Daniela Hantuchova won the crunch match against French star Amelie Mauresmo - 2-6 6-4 6-3 - to turn the tie the home side's way.
And when Martina Sucha beat Nathalie Dechy 7-6 6-1, the tie was sealed.
In the other semi-final, Austria will meet Spain.
Austria, who held a 2-0 lead going into Sunday's rubbers, held off a determined fightback by Croatia.
The visitors made it 2-1 when Iva Majoli beat Barbara Schett and then Jelena Kostanic moved a set up on Barbara Schwartz.
But Schwartz dug deep and finally triumphed 8-6 in the final set to see Austria through.
Spain strolled into the semis with a whitewash of Germany in Mallorca.
Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario stretched her record number of Fed Cup wins to 71 when she beat Martina Muller 3-6 6-2 6-3.
That gave Spain an unassailable 3-0 lead and Marta Marrero's second singles win plus a doubles success completed the clean sweep.
Sanchez-Vicario, who has already helped Spain win the cup five times, said: "It's great to be in the final week of Fed Cup again. We will fight for sure for another title with the same team spirit that we show against Germany. Of course this competition is a very special one for me."
The semi-finals - and subsequent final - will be played in the week beginning October 28.
They will all take place at the same venue which has yet to be decided. An announcement about that will be made in August.
In the Fed Cup play-offs, the USA held on to their World Group place with a comfortable 5-0 triumph over Israel.
Monica Seles completed the match victory when she beat Anna Smashnova 6-4 6-0.
Lindsay Davenport then continued her comeback by beating Tzipora Obziler in a super tie-break. With the rubber dead, Davenport dropped the first set 6-2, won the second 6-1 and then took the deciding breaker.
In the other play-offs, Switzerland recovered from 2-0 down only to lose the decisive doubles match in Malmo to Sweden.
Another tight match took place in Wollongong where Australia edged past the Netherlands in the doubles decider.
Elsewhere, Russia, Argentina and Czech Republic all enjoyed whitewash wins, while Slovenia beat Ukraine 4-1.
All the winners will be in the World Group draw for 2003 which takes place during the finals week.
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