Intro:

Victory for Roger Federer over Fabio Fognini of Italy propelled Switzerland to their first Davis Cup final in 22 years on Sunday (14th September).

Script:

There was another rapturous reception for Roger Federer as he took to the court against Fabio Fognini for their reverse singles match on Sunday in Switzerland's Davis Cup tie with Italy.

After Italy won Saturday's doubles encounter, the host nation needed to win one more match to reach the Davis Cup final and the result never looked in doubt.

Both players struggled for rhythm, but it was the Italian number one who struggled most.

Federer got the first break of serve in the sixth game of the opening set and never looked back from there.

The world number three struck 33 winners as Fognini simply failed to fire.

The Italian did manage to muster more resistance in the third.

Federer was taken to a tiebreak but still held the edge, completing a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 triumph to give Switzerland an unassailable 3-1 lead and spark celebrations.

Switzerland will now face France in the final starting on November 21st, and Federer couldn't hide his delight.

SOUNDBITE: (English), Roger Federer:

"The most classical match ups I've had in my career have come against France. I think we always lost at home and always won away. So I am happy - I guess - the final is away. But we had some great ties here this year in Switzerland against Kazakhstan with 14,000 now here again in Geneva it was 18,000 - over 18,000. So we are very pleased to be in the finals and we'll see how it is going to go."

The only previous final for Switzerland was in 1992, when they lost to the United States.