Lopez and Verdasco came through an exhausting match

Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez won an epic doubles match to take Spain into the semi-finals of the Davis Cup.

They saved two match points before beating Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner 6-7 7-6 6-4 2-6 12-10 in Bremen to put Spain 3-0 ahead.

Spain will face defending champions United States or France in September's semi-finals, with the USA 2-1 ahead.

Argentina lead Sweden 2-1 and Russia were 2-1 up on the Czech Republic in the other quarter-finals.

World number four Nikolay Davydenko returned to action on Saturday when he teamed up with Igor Andreev to give Russia a 2-1 lead in Moscow.

"It's enough to make you sick. I was on the court three hours yesterday, 4:45 today and didn't win. We lost that last set rather unluckily Philipp Kohlschreiber

Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev had left out Davydenko from Friday's singles after he flew in late to Moscow following his singles triumph in Miami last weekend.

Feeling fresh after enjoying a rest day, Davydenko joined forces with Andreev and the duo outfought the Czech team of Pavel Vizner and Radek Stepanek 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 to give the hosts the psychological edge ahead of Sunday's reverse singles.

Spanish heroes Lopez and Verdasco saved match points at 6-6 and 8-8 in the final set before clinching victory in the 22nd game after an exhausting four hours and 45 minutes on court.

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Kohlschreiber was taken to a hospital for a check-up late on Friday after complaining of not feeling well following his four-set singles loss to David Ferrer on the opening day.

"It's enough to make you sick," Kohlschreiber said. "I was on the court three hours yesterday, 4:45 today and didn't win. We lost that last set rather unluckily."

David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas won their doubles rubber 7-5 6-4 6-4 against Jonas Bjorkman and Robert Linstedt to put Argentina on top of their match in Buenos Aires.

In the clash between the US and France, Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement rallied past twins Bob and Mike Bryan 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-3 6-4 to cut American's lead.