Pouille defeats Fognini, leads France to Davis Cup semis

Genoa (Italy) April 9 (IANS) French tennis player Lucas Pouille has led his team to the Davis Cup semifinals 3-1 after defeating Italy s Fabio Fognini 2-6 6-1 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

Pouille world No. 11 needed three hours to defeat 20th-ranked Fognini moving France one step closer to defending their title reports Efe.

France is scheduled to play either Spain or Germany for a place in the final on September 14-16.

Fognini started the match strong taking the opener 6-2 but saw his advantage vanish as Pouille clinched the second in less than half an hour.

In the key third set Fognini squandered a 3-0 lead and failed to hold serve when he was one game away from sealing it at 5-3.

The Italian player may also regret the three set points he failed to convert at 5-4 as the set went into a tiebreak which he eventually lost 7-3.

Pouille stormed 3-0 into the fourth set but Fognini rallied back to level the set at 3-3.

Pouille however ruthlessly went on to win the next three games sending France to the semifinals.

On Friday Pouille held off Andreas Seppi s comeback to win 6-3 6-2 4-6 3-6 6-1 and give France a 1-0 advantage while Fognini had defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 6-2 6-3 to draw the teams level.

The French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert did their part on Saturday defeating the Italian duo of Fognini and Simone Bolelli 6-4 6-3 6-1.

--IANS
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