Paris:
Spain captain Albert Costa faces an agonising selection headache for the Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic when superstar Rafael Nadal, who missed the semi-final win over Israel, will be banging on his door for inclusion.
World number two Nadal, as well as ninth-ranked Fernando Verdasco, were injured and missed the 4-1 win over Israel where David Ferrer and veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero stepped in to lead the defending champions into a seventh Davis Cup final.
Nadal skipped the weekend tie with an abdominal strain picked up on his way to the US Open semi-finals; Costa will also be aware that the six-time Grand Slam title winner sat out the 2008 final victory over Argentina with a knee injury.
"It will be a very tough decision," admitted Costa. "I have six, seven, eight players I could use but only four can be in the team. They have to understand that they are the rules."
Spain had made sure of victory over semi-final debutants Israel by Saturday after Ferrer and Ferrero had won Friday's opening singles before Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez combined to take the doubles.
Sunday's action in Murcia was academic with Ferrer beating Andy Ram 6-3, 6-1 and Harel Levy getting Israel on the board, seeing off Lopez 7-5, 6-2.
"In Spain, tennis is at a great level. We are winning Davis Cups and Grand Slams with Rafa, but we still need to make it even bigger," added Costa.
Unlike three-time winners Spain, the Czechs, who were also 3-0 ahead by Saturday against 2005 champions Croatia in Porec, have no selection problems with top 20 players Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych automatic first choices.
The Czechs haven't reached the final since 1980 when they won their one and only title.
On Sunday, they wrapped up a 4-1 win over Croatia with Jan Hajek beating Roko Karanusic 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 before Lovro Zovko salvaged Croatian pride with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Lukas Dlouhy.
"Spain have the best claycourt players in the world and definitely we are going to be outsiders but we've been in that situation a couple of times this year and we used it to our advantage and I believe we are going to do the same thing in December," said Stepanek.
In the World Group play-offs, world number one Roger Federer cruised past Italy's Potito Starace 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in Genoa to make sure of a place in the elite 16-nation field next season.
Nine-time champions France also preserved their World Group place with victory over the Netherlands in Maastricht where world number seven Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won his third rubber of the weekend, a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Thiemo De Bakker.
Belgium, India and Serbia too made sure of World Group spots with wins over Ukraine, South Africa and Uzbekistan respectively.
While Federer and Nadal can look forward to World Group action in 2010, world number three Andy Murray was facing life in the third tier after Great Britain lost 3-2 to Poland in a relegation play-off in Liverpool.
Murray won both his singles rubbers, but teenager Dan Evans, playing in his first Davis Cup tie, was no match for Michal Przysiezny and lost 6-2, 6-1, 7-5.
Britain will now will now play in Euro/Africa Group Two for the first time since 1996.
"Now at last we're where we deserve to be," Murray said. "We clearly aren't good enough to be playing against these teams."