Argentina's David Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria both posted straight set wins on Sunday to secure a stunning 4-1 win over Australia in their bitterly-contested Davis Cup quarter-final at the Olympic tennis centre.
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Argentina have never won the Davis Cup but are suddenly looming as one of the favourites this season after reaching the semi-finals for the third time in the past four years.
They will play either Slovakia or the Netherlands in September for a place in the final while Australia will have to go back the drawing board and start again in 2006.
"I can't believe this moment, this is great," Nalbandian said after being mobbed by his jubilant team mates.
"To beat Australia here, and on grass, for us that's amazing."
Australia's non-playing captain John Fitzgerald could not hide his disappointment but was full of praise for the South Americans.
"They're a strong side and in the end you've just got to give credit where credit's due," he said.
"They were just too good on the weekend, they had a team that were able to share the workload and of course, Nalbandian was quite outstanding."
PERFECT TENNIS
Nalbandian produced a near-perfect display to overwhelm an out-of-sorts Hewitt, who committed a staggering 45 unforced errors and served six double-faults.
"It was a weird feeling out there today, I just didn't step up to the plate when I needed to," Hewitt said.
"I needed to dictate play a bit more on the big points but I just sort of went into my shell a little bit."
Nalbandian had lost each of his three previous encounters against Hewitt, including the 2002 Wimbledon final and the quarter-finals of this year's Australian Open, but could not have picked a better moment to exact his revenge.
The pair have made no secret of their intense dislike for each other after their heated clash at Melbourne in January and there was no sign of the rift healing after a bitter war of words erupted between the Argentine and Australian camps on the first day of the tie.
"This is Davis Cup, it's a very heated competition but we're leaving Australia with a great feeling so it's not a problem for us," Argentine captain Alberto Mancini said.
"Obviously we're feeling good, to beat Australia is really something huge because nobody believed in this."
Nalbandian wasted little time stamping his authority on Hewitt, who had not lost a Davis Cup singles match since his defeat to Nicolas Escude in the 2001 final with France.
VERY NERVOUS
Nalbandian broke the world number two's service twice in each of the first two sets then once more in the third to complete a one-sided victory in less than two hours.
"I think he was very, very nervous," Nalbandian said. "That gave me confidence and made it easier for me."
Hewitt broke Nalbandian's serve once in the second set but squandered four other opportunities to break him in the match while Nalbandian sealed the second set with a booming ace down the centre of the court and wrapped up the match on yet another uncharacteristic error from Hewitt.
"I didn't have a great day out there today ... and the important thing when you're not playing your best tennis is you've got to find a way to play your best tennis and I couldn't do that.
"But they're as good a team as anyone still left in the competition, there's no doubt about that, and they've got plenty of depth and can play on all surfaces and will be hard for anyone to beat."
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