Davis Cup: Defending champion France in the final

Defending champion France has again reached the Davis Cup final. Captain Yannick Noah’s team won 6:0, 6:4 and 7:6 (7) in the doubles by Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut on Saturday.

Already on Friday the French Davis Cup team set the course for the final with two victories in the singles. Benoit Paire and Lucas Pouille prevailed against their Spanish rivals and put their doubles partners in a good starting position.

Old champion Julien Bennteau and Nicolas Mahut played for France. On the opposite side were the Spanish duo Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez.

The French left no doubt about their role as favourites and consistently put their opponents under pressure. A well-deserved 6:0 was on the scoreboard after only 19 minutes. Benneteau/Mahut were superior in all respects in front of their home crowd in Lille and were only a few games away from the final.

The second movement also started promisingly for the French. An early break for the 2:1 lead set the course for the 2-0 set lead. The break should suffice for the superior duo to the 6:0 and 6:4 and could play free in set three.

Especially experienced Benneteau played excellent double tennis in his farewell game, covered the net well and caused euphoria in the stands with highlight strokes. Even a loss of serve at the beginning of the third set did not disturb the French and Benneteau/Mahut immediately fought back.

The landlords set the decisive pinprick in Lille in the tiebreak at 8:7 and grabbed the mini-break to win the match. This is the third time since 2014 that France have reached the Davis Cup final and they still have the chance to defend their title. Last year, Pouille and Co. beat Belgium 3-2.