Australia and France moved into the Davis Cup quarter-finals yesterday when their doubles teams got the victories that gave them unassailable 3-0 leads over the Czech Republic and Japan respectively.
In Tokyo, French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut dispatched home partners Yuichi Sugita and Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3 6-4 6-4 to clinch the tie with a day to spare.
“We were favourites, so like you said, the job had to be done and that’s what we did,” Herbert, one of the world’s top- ranked doubles players, said.
In Melbourne, home pair Sam Groth and John Peers were even more dominant, beating Jan Satral and Jiri Vesely 6-3 6-2 6-2.
Australia will play the United States or Switzerland in the next round while France will face either Canada or Britain.
First round
Argentina vs Italy 1-2; Germany vs Belgium 1-2; Australia vs Czech Rep. 3-0; USA vs Switzerland 2-0; Japan vs France 0-3; Canada vs Britain 1-1; Serbia vs Russia 3-0; Croatia vs Spain 2-1.