Noah’s gamble pays off

LILLE: France captain Yannick Noah’s gamble in pairing Richard Gasquet and Pierre-Hugues Herbert together for the first time paid off on Saturday as the duo gave France a 2-1 lead over Belgium in the Davis Cup final.

Gasquet and Herbert defeated Ruben Bemelmans and Joris de Loore 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 to leave the hosts requiring just one point from late yesterday’s closing two singles.

“It’s great they won because my head was on the line!” smiled Noah.

“I thought they’d complement each other technically. There were obviously mistakes but I found that they were helping each other out.

“Their style of play gelled well, with Richard very solid at the back and on return, and Pierre-Hugues strong in the volleys.”

He added: “Sometimes you have to take difficult decisions and this one was very difficult.”

Belgium’s hopes of claiming a first title in the venerable competition now rest with their in-form number one David Goffin denying Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in yesterday’s opening singles.

If Goffin keeps the tie alive it will then go down to the fifth and closing rubber between Lucas Pouille or Gasquet and Belgium’s Davis Cup specialist Steve Darcis.

Pouille lost Friday’s opening match to World No 7 Goffin before Tsonga levelled the match with a comprehensive defeat of Darcis.

Gasquet and Herbert put France in pole position after a gruelling three hours and three minutes on court at Lille’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Belgium are appearing in their second Davis Cup final in three years while France have reached four finals since they last lifted the trophy, with Tsonga and Gasquet both part of the team beaten by a Switzerland featuring Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka in the 2014 showpiece. AFP