France and Australia are one Singles victory away from the Davis Cup final after crucial doubles victories on Saturday.
The first doubles rubber took place in Lille as Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut took on playing captain Nenad Zimonjic and Filip Krajinovic. Before the crucial third rubber the tie was locked at 1-1 after Singles wins from Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Dusan Lajovic respectively.
The first set saw the former Wimbledon champions show authority and dominate the contest as the Serbian duo were defensively weak in the first set. There was a lot of pressure on the Nenad Zimonjic serve as he was broken twice as the French duo grabbed the first set 6-1.
It was obvious that the French duo wanted to live up to their status as the favourites for this rubber. They continued their dominance as Herbert was especially impressive at the back of the court. The Serbians tried to mix things up at the net, however the French duo thumped their way to the second set as they won it 6-2.
The third set saw Herbert and Mahut easily gain a 5-2 lead as they looked to be closing out the third rubber for France. However they looked to nervous on serve after that and failed to serve out the match on two separate occasions. This allowed the Serbians to take advantage and level the set at 5-5.
However as the third set went into a tiebreak, the French team wasn’t to be denied as they took the tiebreak 7-3 and made sure France lead Serbia 2-1 heading into the reverse singles on Sunday. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga will look to confirm France’s place in the final when he plays Dusan Lajovic.
Meanwhile in Brussels, Australia and Belgium were also at 1-1 going into today’s doubles after respective victories from David Goffin and Nick Kyrgios. However Australia moved into a 2-1 lead after World number two John Peers and Jordan Thompson defeated Ruben Bemelmans and Arthur De Greef 6-3 6-4 6-0 in 1 hour and 38 minutes.
The win delighted the whole team and captain Lleyton Hewitt who continues to display faith in the lower ranked members of the team in the absence of controversial Australian Bernard Tomic. It was a classy performance from Australia who will hope to set up a meeting with France.
Nick Kyrgios will hope to seal the tie for the hosts as he plays David Goffin in what should be a blockbuster fourth rubber.
