France beat Croatia in the doubles rubber at the Davis Cup final
Tuesday 4 December 2018 13:07, UK
Defending champions France still have a chance of retaining the Davis Cup after winning the doubles rubber against Croatia.
Croatia were 2-0 up in this year's final after Friday's singles matches in Lille, meaning one more point would earn them a second Davis Cup title.
But they were denied on Saturday, as French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut beat Mate Pavic and Ivan Dodig 6-4 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-3).
It had looked like being a relatively comfortable win for the French duo when they had points for a double break in the third set, having won the first two in dominant fashion.
But Pavic and Dodig clawed their way back to set home nerves jangling.
The pairings then fought out a tense fourth set, the French duo taking it on a tie-break thanks to a reflex volley from Mahut.
France still need to win both of Sunday's reverse singles matches, if they are to defend the title.
France captain Yannick Noah said: "This is a wonderful present.
"It's not over, we have a chance. We are not the favourites but we are still in there.
"We have to try to visualise a positive outcome to win the whole thing.
"It's a difficult task, a mountain to climb. But, you saw today, the fans got involved. That can be positive for us and negative for the other side.
"We don't know what's going to happen, but we're thankful we are playing a match tomorrow that still counts."
Noah deflected questions about whether Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would be fit enough to play in Sunday's singles against Borna Coric.
Tsonga, who only returned to competitive tennis in September after missing most of the season through injury, suffered a groin injury during his straight-sets defeat by Marin Cilic on Friday.
No team has recovered from 2-0 down to win the trophy since Australia beat the United States in 1939.
