This time he liked the court.

Russia's Marat Safin found his footing Saturday on a surface that had him seething less than 24 hours earlier. He paired with Dmitry Tursunov to beat Argentina's David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in the Davis Cup final.

Russia leads 2-1 and is one match away from its second Davis Cup title.

The comfortable win came a day after Nalbandian levelled the five-match final by beating Safin 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, which followed Nikolay Davydenko's 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Juan Ignacio Chela.

Safin had blamed the synthetic indoor carpet for his singles loss, saying the surface suited Nalbandian ``perfectly.'' The Russian squad had trained on the carpet when it was placed on top of a wood parquet but in competition, Safin complained, the carpet was on cement.

After Saturday's win, Safin hadn't completely forgiven the court.

``The surface was still uncomfortable for me,'' Safin said, while adding that doubles was easier with each player responsible for ``half the court.''

The reverse singles Sunday at Moscow's Olympic Stadium will now decide the outcome of this final with Argentina trying for its first Davis Cup title.

The Argentine fans _ including soccer great Diego Maradona _ were subdued as Tursunov and Safin overpowered their opponents, conceding only one point in their first-set service games. Nalbandian and Calleri never had a break point in the match.

``At the beginning we couldn't make any returns ... and they returned well and gained confidence. That was tough,'' said Nalbandian, who looked like a shadow of the player who bested Safin with little difficulty in Friday's singles.

On paper, Safin wasn't even scheduled to play Saturday _ he replaced Mikhail Youzhny in an eleventh-hour change by Russia coach Shamil Tarpishchev. But the two-time major champion said after the match that he had known ``for sure'' he would play in the doubles.

``I think it was the best decision, and it worked,'' Safin said of his pairing with Tursunov, who kept up his part of the bargain by firing eight of Russia's 11 aces in a match that lasted just one hour 38 minutes.

``We didn't want to stay out there too long and let them get in the match,'' Tursunov said. ``Marat and I agreed that we would simply play our game and let them make mistakes, and that's what they did throughout the match.''

If Nalbandian can rebound and even the tie for the second time by beating Davydenko in the first match Sunday, it could be up to Safin to beat Chela and bring Russia its second Davis Cup title _ and its first at home, after beating France in 2002 in Paris. The Soviet Union also beat Argentina in 1985 in Buenos Aires.

Russia hasn't lost a Davis Cup tie at home since 1995, when Pete Sampras won all three of his matches to lead the United States to victory over Russia in the final. Russia also lost in the final in 1994, to Sweden.

In Sunday's singles, the captains can change lineups up to an hour before play.

Tarpishchev is becoming known for late substitutions. In the semifinal against the United States, he replaced Youzhny with Tursunov, who clinched Russia's final berth by outlasting Andy Roddick in a near five-hour match.

Youzhny says he has fully recovered from the foot injury that prompted his withdrawal from the St. Petersburg Open in late October, but he has not played a competitive match since then.

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, an avid tennis fan at 75, joined Safin and Tursunov on the court after the match, taking each by the hand and raising their arms in triumph.

Maradona spoke with Safin on the court in Spanish and praised his play.

``He is a phenomenon. He and Tursunov gave Argentina no chance to break serve today. Everything went well for them,'' Maradona said.

Safin said he had never met Maradona before.

``It was a great honour to shake the hand with which he scored a goal,'' joked Safin, referring to Maradona's infamous ``hand of God'' goal in Argentina's 2-1 quarter-final victory over England in the 1986 World Cup.

Argentina lost in its only previous Davis Cup final, to the United States in 1981.