ALICANTE, Spain (AFP) - Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero wasted no time getting down to business, brushing aside Fabrice Santoro to put the hosts level with France 1-1 in their World Group Davis Cup semi-final tie.
Ferrero took just 21 minutes to finish off the match 6-3, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 on the clay court of the converted bull ring of Plaza de Toros after it had been held over from Friday night because of failing light.
Paul-Henri Mathieu had given France the first point when he shocked Carlos Moya 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Friday, with Ferrero appearing to be breezing through the match, comfortably claiming the first two sets.
However, Santoro, 31, managed to claw his way back by taking the third set with relative ease.
Ferrero, apparently unfazed, claimed the early break in the fourth set, only to be broken back by Santoro to level the fourth set at 3-3 before play was suspended after two hours, 23min of play.
Back on court 24-year-old Ferrero saved two break points on his serve before breaking his French opponent in the following game.
Ferrero called for treatment for a blister on his right hand before serving out to love on his first match point for his fourth win over the Frenchman, whose only previous win in their ties came when the Spaniard retired injured in Toronto earlier this year.
Santoro blamed a left wrist injury picked up in play on Friday for his failure to fight back, leading to his replacement in the later doubles tie by Arnaud Clement.
"I picked up the injury yesterday at the beginning of the second set making a return of service," explained Santoro.
"Painkillers helped me get back into the third set but this morning I couldn't hold the racket.
"Even if I'd won the fourth set yesterday it wouldn't have made a difference. I couldn't have changed anything Saturday in the fifth.
"It's a real disappointment we thought we could lead 2-0 and then play the doubles without any problems."
Mathieu's marathon victory, completed in four hours, 29 minutes, also put his only other appearance in the competition firmly behind him.
That came in the final in Paris in 2002 when he allowed Russia's Mikhail Youzhny to come back from two sets down in the decisive final rubber.