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Wesley Moodie and Rik De Voest produced world-class doubles after South Africa's stimulating successes in both singles matches on Friday and accounted for the scratch Finnish combination of Jarkko Nieminen and Harri Heliovaara as comfortably as the 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 suggests in a matter of 1hr 46min.
With the world's ninth-ranked Moodie in harness and in full cry, South Africa were always favourites to win the doubles - but it was De Voest's inspired and heroic five-set success against stylish one-time world number 13th Nieminen a matter of 24 hours earlier that effectively turned the tie on its head.
A gritty De Voest had limped to the finishing line after more than 4hr 15min of engrossing, topsy-turvey tennis against Nieminen while suffering from cramp, but he looked as fit as a fiddle in the doubles and proved a perfect foil for Moodie's power play with cunning placements and stealthy volleying at the net.
Not surprisingly, the South Africans targeted the promising, but inexperienced 20-year-old Heliovaara, a late replacement for the injured Heni Kontinen, from the outset, but with Nieminen becoming increasingly frustrated it was Finland's senior partner who made some critical and untimely errors in the end.
The Finns mustered only one glimmer of hope throughout the match, breaking Moodie's serve for a 2-0 lead at the start of the third set. Heliovaara, however, dropped his service immediately afterwards and the South African caravan rolled on to its inevitable winning destination.
But, in all fairness, the injury to Kontinen on the eve of the tie seriously disrupted Finland's preparation - although it could be concluded it balanced out the unavailability of South African number one Kevin Anderson, which had cast something of a pall over the home side in the first place.
And, mention of Anderson, who has made himself unavailable for Davis Cup competition for more than a year, South African team capatin John-Laffnie de Jager commented: "I think we have to get his mind right. He remains a valuable potential option for the team in the future, in spite of the sterling performance of all the exisiting players against the Finns"
The South African captain might have been thinking ahead in this respect to the World Group play-off against a still undecided opponent - with the venue also dependant on the outcome of the draw.
De Jager also revealed that with the outcome against Finland already decided, De Voest would be given "a well deserved rest" in Sunday's reverse singles, and Raven Klaasen will come in as a replacement.
