France wins 2017 Davis Cup

The 2017 Davis Cup was a thriller, with neighbours France and Belgium fighting it out to the very last match

First up, and pivotal, was the battle between David Goffin (fresh off his excellent ATP Finals performance) and Frenchman Lucas Pouille.

In an otherwise even opening set, Goffin had a much better percentage of points won on first serve and converted the only break point of the set. 7-5 and that was as close as Pouille would be for the match.

Goffin broke twice in each of the next two sets and never faced a break point on his serve throughout the match which he won 7-5 6-3 6-1.

It only took Jo-Wilfried Tsonga an hour and 46 minutes to level the ledger - the Frenchman thrashed Steve Darcis 6-3 6-2 6-1. He was especially dominant in sets two and three, losing only two points on his serve in that period.

Like Goffin, Tsonga faced no break points in the match.

The doubles rubber, as in many Davis Cup battles, proved critical.

The French have had, until reasonably recently, the leading pair in the world - Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

With Mahut missing from this tie, Richard Gasquet joined Herbert to match up against Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans and Joris De Loore.

The French pair were overwhelming in the opening set, winning it 6-1, but were taken aback by the Belgian resistance in set two which was the leveller 6-3.

A third set tie break, won by Gasquet and Herbert seven points to two, was enough for them to proceed to a four set win and give France a 2-1 lead in the tie.

In the biggest match, the two winners from Day One were up against each other.

The opening set was close enough to require a tie break and Goffin eked out a win over Tsonga 7 points to 5.

Following that it was all Belgium and Goffin won 7-6 (5) 6-3 6-2.

The tie was 2-2 

The final match would decide the tie and Lucas Pouille and Steve Darcis were both looking for redemption following losses on Day One.

It was Lucas who fired up, destroying his Belgian opponent 6-3 6-1 6-0.

France had won its first Davis Cup since 2001.