Argentina earned their fifth trip to the ARAG ATP World Team Championship with a convincing victory over fellow two-time champions Chile on Thursday at the Rochusclub. Argentina returns to the final for second time in three years -- also prevailing over Chile in the group decider in 2005 -- and will vie for its first Championship title since defeating Russia in 2002.

Jose Acasuso clinched the tie for Argentina as he capped off a perfect week in Round Robin play with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Nicolas Massu. The victory marked Acasuso's ninth straight at the Rochusclub, dating back to 2002 when he made his Duesseldorf debut as a member of the winning team.

The 23-year-old Acasuso turned in a heroic effort in Argentina's opening Round Robin tie against Sweden on Sunday that paved the way for his country's return to the final, saving match point against veteran Jonas Bjorkman in the second set tie-break. He again gave his country a chance to play for the victory against the United States by winning his reverse singles match against Mardy Fish.

Juan Ignacio Chela established the lead for Argentina in the day's first singles match by upsetting World No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez, 6-3, 7-5. Gonzalez had defeated Chela in the Rome quarterfinals, but the Chilean could not match the same level of play that saw him advance to his second career ATP Masters Series final two weeks ago.

"It is great for me to be able to play a few matches against high-level opponents on clay during this traditional event," said Chela. "Even though we are already focused on the French Open, we take these matches here very seriously. When Gonzalez defeated me in Rome, he played so well that I didn't have a chance. And here I was better than him."

Gonzalez briefly kept himself in the match as he denied Chela the opportunity to serve out the victory, but Chela broke again for the fourth time to seal the win in one hour and 30 minutes.

Gonzalez said: "It is a great honour to me to play for my country here in Duesseldorf. Argentina won the World Team Championship here twice. Unfortunately today I was passed too often today. And in addition my forehand was not as good today as I would have wished. However, the match was on the very high level."

Chile, the winner of back-to-back Championships from 2003-04, entered their final Round Robin tie atop the Red Group standings with victories over the United States and Sweden. Gonzalez and Massu were both members of the Championship teams.

Argentina awaits one of three teams in the final: the Czech Republic, Germany or Spain. Germany, who defeated the Argentines in the Championship tie in 1989 and again in 2005, is looking to advance to its third consecutive final and can guarantee its spot outright by defeating the Czech Republic in all three matches on Friday.