France kept alive its hopes for a first victory at the Hopman Cup, advancing to the final after beating Spain 2-0 at the mixed teams tournament in Western Australia yesterday.

The French pairing of Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet were too good for the other unbeaten team in Group B, Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues and Fernando Verdasco.

The ninth-ranked Bartoli continued her impressive early season form ahead of the Australian Open to put the French on track for tomorrow’s final when she beat Medina Garrigues in the women’s singles in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.

Gasquet then cruised past Verdasco, ranked 24th, by the same scoreline in the men’s singles to put the French into the final.

The dead mixed doubles rubber was not played.

France’s only previous appearance in the Hopman Cup final was in 1998, when Mary Pierce and Cedric Pioline were beaten 2-1 by the Slovak Republic’s Karina Habsudova and Karol Kucera.

Bartoli was excited to have the chance to be the first French team to win the Hopman Cup.

“It is the first time we have played together so we couldn’t have asked for more,” she said.

France’s opponents will be de-cided by today’s Group A ties, with the top-seeded Czech Republic pairing of Petra Kvitova and Tomas Berdych looking the most likely to go through.