France secure last four spot in Davis Cup

Hosts France made into semi-finals with a 3-0 advantage in hand against Britain in the best-of-five Davis Cup, as the French pairing of Nicolas Mahut and Julien Benneteau beat their British counterparts Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot 7-6 (7), 5-7, 7-5 and 7-5 here on Saturday.

It was the fifth time that France were the semi-finalists during the past eight years.

After Lucas Pouille and Jeremy Chardy of France laid a solid foundation for the victory on Friday, Mahut and Benneteau were involved in a fierce contest to force a tiebreak in the first set, where both sides drew level from four to seven. The French duo took away the next two points for a 1-0 lead.

In the second, two pairings did well on their respective serves to tie the game at 5-5 after the tenth game. Then Inglot and Jamie Murray, world No.1 Andy Murray's older brother, broke in the 11th to clinch the next two games, and came back for a 1-1 tie.

The third set went in a much similar manner as both sides split the first ten games. However, it was the British themselves who made mistakes in their serves, and a double fault in the 12th game handed them a 7-5 loss.

Mahut and Benneteau sealed the quarter-final win for France after winning 7-5 in the fourth set. Endit