France, Belarus advance to Fed Cup semifinals

Tsonga beats Herbert in all-French final in Montpellier

PARIS, Feb 10, (RTRS): France and Belarus reached the Fed Cup semifinals after sweeping their firstround series on Sunday.

In Liege, Caroline Garcia clinched a 3-0 victory for France over host Belgium after easing past Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-3 to set up a semifinal against defending champion the Czech Republic or Romania.

The Czechs and Romanians split their opening singles in a series in the Czech city of Ostrava.

Garcia marked her return to the Fed Cup for the first time since the 2016 final with a couple of victories after overcoming Alison Van Uytvanck 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2 in the opening singles on Saturday.

In Braunschweig, Aryna Sabalenka cruised past Laura Siegemund 6-1, 6-1 to give Belarus an insurmountable 3-0 lead over host Germany in the best-offive series on an indoor hard court at the Volkswagen Halle.

The ninth-ranked Sabalenka hit 18 winners compared to five for her opponent to help Belarus avenge losing to Germany 3-2 last year in Minsk.

In the final doubles match where the outcome couldn’t change the overall result, Victoria Azarenka teamed up with Lidziya Marozava for Belarus to beat Germany’s pair of Mona Barthel and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 0-6, 11-9 to win 4-0 overall.

The Belarusian team that reached the final in 2017 will face the 2018 finalist United States or Australia in the semis in April. The two are tied at 1 after splitting

the opening singles in Asheville.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 6-2 to win the Open Sud de France in Montpellier and claim his first ATP title since 2017 on Sunday.

Herbert, the seventh seed, was looking to snatch his maiden singles title but Tsonga, whose 2018 season was hampered by injuries, only dropped four points on his serve. The 33-year-old, in Montpellier courtesy of a wild card, had not won a trophy since he prevailed in Antwerp in October 2017.

Herbert, who won the Australian Open doubles title with Nicolas Mahut last month, had no solutions in a one-sided second set as Tsonga improved his head-to-head record with his compatriot to 3-0.

Australia’s Ashleigh Barty returns a shot against United State’s Sofia Kenin in their first-round Fed Cup tennis match in Asheville, NC, on Feb 9. (AP)