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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Saturday, February 10 |
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| France leads Belgium 3-0 to book second-round berth Reuters | |||
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GHENT, Belgium -- France booked its place
in the Davis Cup quarterfinals after taking an unbeatable 3-0
lead over Belgium in Saturday's world group first-round tie.
The experienced French pairing of Cedric Pioline and Fabrice
Santoro outplayed Belgians Olivier Rochus and Tom van Houdt 6-3,
6-2, 7-6 with a two-hour display of doubles power and guile.
From 3-3 in the first set, the French duo took five
consecutive games, conceding just five points.
The home pair fought back gamely in the third set, with
Pioline having to save a breakpoint in the sixth game, but the
visitors ran out easy winners in the tiebreak.
France will play either Switzerland or the United States,
while Belgium faces a playoff to stay in the top flight next
season.
On Friday, Australian Open revelations Arnaud Clement and
Sebastien Grosjean had set France on the way to victory, both
starting sluggishly on the indoor clay before battling back from
two sets down.
Clement, beaten by Andre Agassi in the Melbourne final last
month, recovered to beat Christophe Rochus 6-7, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2,
while Grosjean outlasted the younger Rochus brother, Olivier,
4-6, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
The quality of the visitors' lineup always threatened to
make this a one-sided affair, although the home side had beaten
the French in Ghent in 1997.
"We showed some excellent quality in (Friday's) singles and
we were pretty solid in the doubles, all in all it looks good,"
said Santoro after Saturday's match.
In seven meetings between these two neighbours, this was
France's first win in Belgium.
Belgian captain Gabriel Gonzalez may now rest Olivier Rochus
and play Philip Dewulf, French Open semifinalist in 1997, in one
of Sunday's dead rubber reverse singles. | |
ALSO SEE Swiss win doubles, take 2-1 lead over U.S. in Davis Cup Spain's reign as Davis Cup champions is short Romania win doubles to lead Germany 2-1 Ecuador upsets Australia in epic doubles match Brazil first team to reach quarterfinals Swedes win doubles to lead Czechs 2-1 Russia leads Slovakia 2-1 after doubles victory Davis Cup results France pulls out to 2-0 lead Gambill pulls U.S. even against Switzerland | |
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