France lead Britain 2-0 in Davis Cup quarter-final clash

France were one step away from a last four spot as they built a 2-0 lead over Britain in Davis Cup quarter-final here on Friday.

It was a highly-anticipated matchup as the two sides combined for 19 trophies in the tournament. World No. 17 Lucas Pouille earned France a 1-0 lead after overcoming Kyle Edmund 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-3, before Jeremy Chardy doubled their advantage with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daniel Evans.

The duo lost their several key players, as France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet were absent with different reasons, while top-ranked Andy Murray withdrew due to his elbow injury.

French captain Yannick Noah changed the squad twice before the matchup, finally making a decision to bring Pouille and Chardy in the singles, Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut as the pairing.

After both players tied at 5-5, Pouille took the next two games for a 7-5 victory in the first set.

They were involved in a more fierce contest to force into a tiebreaker in the second, before Pouille won 8-6 in the tiebreaker with Edmund's poor backhand.

Pouille continued his momentum in front of over 5,000 fans in Kindarena to seal the first point for the hosts after winning the third set at 6-3.

Pouille led 8-6 in aces, and suffered less double faults (2-4) and unforced errors (24-28) than Edmund.

Chardy, who replaced Gilles Simon into the France squad on a last-gasp decision, heated up quicker than his opponents after taking five games in a row and winning 6-2 in the first set.

Evans, British team's leading player positioned 44th in ATP rankings, showed little resistance in the next two sets, losing 6-3 twice.

Benneteau and Mahut will feature in Saturday' doubles against Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot, hoping to seal a semifinal berth for France ahead of Sunday's reverse singles. Endit