France one point away from Davis Cup semis
The French Davis Cup team needs victory in one more rubber to secure a place in this year's World Group semi-finals.
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France lead Czech Republic 2-1 following doubles success on Saturday in Trinec. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicholas Mahut defeated Lukas Rosol and Radek Stepanek in what was a thrilling five set encounter that ended 6-1 3-6 6-3 4-6 6-4.
Herbert and Mahut are playing in men's premier international tennis event for the first time, buoyed by their Wimbledon doubles triumph this month.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga now has an opportunity to make up for a defeat on Friday by sealing victory when he faces Jiri Vesely in the first reverse singles rubber on Sunday.
Of his first experience of playing Davis Cup tennis, Herbert said: “I did not expect it to be as painful as it is on court because it is really not easy with the emotions.
“It is so noisy out there, difficult to concentrate. I am a rookie, I had emotions coming and I made some double faults when I should not have, but we were patient against a very dangerous opponent.
"It is a dream come true [being here], but my dream will fully come true if we win [the tie] with Jo."
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