Understrength Russia staged an inspired comeback to win both reverse singles and edge France 3-2 in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
World number seven Nikolay Davydenko overwhelmed French teenager Richard Gasquet 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to square the tie at 2-2 before Igor Andreev crushed Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 in the deciding fifth rubber.
France were leading 2-1 after winning Saturday's doubles but nothing could stop Davydenko and Andreev on Sunday.
Russia also beat France in a similar fashion in their last encounter, the 2002 final in Paris, when Mikhail Youzhny came from two sets down to beat Mathieu in the decider to clinch their first Davis Cup title.
The Russians, who were missing Australian Open champion Marat Safin to a knee injury, now take on Croatia in the last four in September.
Davydenko, who had been nursing a painful wrist injury in the last few weeks, dominated from the start, breaking a nervous-looking Gasquet twice in the opening set.
The Russian also led 4-2 in the second before the 19-year-old Frenchman found his range, winning four consecutive games to even the score.
Two wild forehands from Gasquet in the third game of the third set handed Davydenko a vital break and the Russian never looked back, sealing victory after two hours and 24 minutes.
"I was very tired from playing on Friday and after the second set I simply ran out of gas," said Gasquet, who beat Andreev in straight sets on his Davis Cup debut in Friday's opener.
PERFECT MATCH
"Davydenko also played a perfect match," added the world number 17, who made 69 unforced errors and committed eight double faults on Sunday.
Andreev, bitterly upset with his performance on Friday, turned his game around against Mathieu.
The Muscovite, urged on by a highly-charged home crowd including former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, came out firing, reeling off eight straight games before Mathieu finally registered on the scoreboard by breaking back in the third game of the second set.
It was only a short reprieve, however, as Andreev continued his barrage from the baseline, sending his opponent to the showers in less than two hours.
"I don't know if this was the best match I've ever played but definitely it was the most important so far in my career," said the Russian, who turned 22 on Thursday.
Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev was full of praise for Andreev.
"I just want you to know, Mathieu is a good clay court player and he didn't play a bad match, Andreev was just too good today," Tarpishchev told reporters.
"I didn't hesitate a minute to play him in the last match because I knew that Youzhny is not in good physical shape and would not last more than four sets."
France captain Guy Forget was left to rue missed chances.
Asked if he had any regrets at playing Mathieu in the decider, Forget said: "I wish I had (French number one Sebastien) Grosjean in my team."
"Actually I thought about playing (Arnaud) Clement or (Michael) Llodra but Clement is only ranked 100 in singles and Llodra also is more of a doubles player, so there was little I could do to change things," he added.
"But we have nothing to be ashamed of. We tried our best and hopefully next time it'll be our turn to come on top."
