And David Ferrer made equally short work of Gilles Simon, wrapping up a 6-1 6-4 6-1 success to put Spain on the verge of a place in the final.

“It’s very painful to watch your players suffer against such a good team,” France captain Guy Forget said on daviscup.com. “They played all right, but to beat Spain in Spain you have to play great.”

Nadal broke seven times and fired 33 winners in a one-sided match with Gasquet in Cordoba.

The big-hitting left-hander broke twice to take the first set 6-3, hitting winners off either flank and dropping only six points on serve.

The Mallorca native then powered through the second in the most dominant fashion imaginable, never dropping a point on serve and taking 21 of 34 when receiving as he broke three times to win the set 6-0.

The pattern continued into the third as a booming forehand winner earned Nadal a break in Gasquet’s first service game. Two more such shots earned him break points next time around, but Gasquet held firm and won his first game since the opening set.

A second break followed for Nadal in game six, though, and he served out to seal victory in two hours seven minutes.

“I was serving well, especially in the opening two sets, and that gave me a lot of composure,” Nadal was quoted by atpworldtour.com telling Spanish television. “The effort was positive, [but] if the game had dragged on, it could have been tough for me.”

World number five Ferrer swept side Simon in two hours eight minutes.

Spain can now wrap up victory in the doubles tomorrow when Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco take on Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.