MARBELLA, Spain – Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, giving Spain a 3-2 win over Germany and helping it advance into the Davis Cup semifinals.

The Spanish team will take on Israel in the semifinals Sept. 18-20 in Spain.

The defending Davis Cup champions have now reached the semifinals of the international team competition for the second consecutive year.

Israel, for its part, beat Russia 4-1 in Tel Aviv to make the semis for the first time.

Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber had made it 2-2 with his win against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 2-6, 8-6 in a match that lasted three hours and 59 minutes.

Ferrero, who was the No. 5 player on the squad, had not played Davis Cup since September 2005, when Spain beat Italy 3-2, thanks to his win over Daniele Bracciali 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.

Spain played without Rafael Nadal, who was unavailable this weekend because of knee tendonitis. Nadal has fallen back to No. 2 in the ATP rankings after losing in the fourth round of the French Open and not playing Wimbledon because of injury.

In the Davis Cup quarterfinal played in Ostrava, Czech Republic, the home team defeated Argentina and advanced into the semifinals against Croatia.

The Croatian squad beat the United States on clay in Porec, Croatia, where Marin Cilic defeated American James Blake 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 for the third point in the Davis Cup tie.