ROGER FEDERER beat Italy's Fabio Fognini yesterday to put Switzerland into the Davis Cup final for the first time since 1992.

Roared on by a capacity crowd in Geneva's Palexpo Arena, the 17-times Grand Slam champion dismantled world No.17 Fognini 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 in just under two hours to give the home team an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Italy's Andreas Seppi then beat Michael Lammer 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the meaningless fifth rubber.

In the final in November the Swiss will travel to Paris to play France, who beat the holders Czech Republic at Roland Garros.

"It's really nice to share this victory with my team members," Federer said afterwards.

"I really struggled today. It was tough conditions, a pretty quick court. It was always going to be difficult, especially if you are not serving so well.

"It wasn't the best performance from either of us, but then again you have to fight with what you've got. In the end I was happy to make the difference."

Federer had given Switzerland the first point on Friday by easing past Simone Bolelli before Stan Wawrinka doubled the advantage with a straight-sets victory over Fognini. But Fognini and Bolelli then combined superbly in the doubles to beat Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli in five sets.

That put the pressure on Federer, but he held his nerve and won a third-set tie break 7-4 to reach the first Davis Cup final of his illustrious career.

Swiss captain Severin Luthi said: "Roger didn't have much time to get used to the court and there was a lot of tension. But he played fantastic tennis."