Lleyton Hewitt beat his clay court bogeyman Carlos Moya for the first time in five matches but it was not enough to put Australia into the final of the tennis World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Hewitt beat Moya 6-2 3-6 6-3 but Australia dropped its final round robin tie against Spain 2-1 after losses to Wayne Arthurs in the singles and the last-minute doubles pairing of Mark Philippoussis and Todd Reid.

Arthurs started well against Alex Corretja, ranked 41 places above him at No.17, winning the first set 6-3.

But Corretja struck back to take the match 3-6 7-5 7-5 and restore some pride for the Spaniards, who were already out of finals contention.

Philippoussis and Reid, the junior Wimbledon champion, then turned in a forgettable performance to lose the doubles 6-1 6-1 to Corretja and Fernando Vicente.

In the end, it made no difference as the undefeated Czech Republic beat the United States 2-1 to progress to Saturday's final against Chile or Argentina.

Hewitt's win over the world No.4 was an impressive effort on a slow, rain-affected clay court.

But he discounted his claims to favouritism despite describing the match as one of his best on clay.

"You can let everyone else be favourite. I couldn't care less," he said.

He also said he couldn't care less about ending Moya's winning streak, but admitted the win had given him confidence.

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