Sparkling France march into final

France, who got off to a perfect start on Friday with singles victories by Llodra and Gael Monfils, will face either Serbia away or the Czech Republic at home in the Dec 3-5 final.
Llodra and Clement won 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. Although they were without their injured number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Guy Forget's team, who beat holders Spain in the previous round, went on the attack in all their three matches, backed by a loud Palais des Sports crowd.

Clement and Llodra, pairing up in the men's team event for the first time since 2008, quickly found their marks, bagging the opening set with a spectacular point at the net.

The pair, who won the 2007 Wimbledon title together, raced to a 2-0, 40-0 lead in the second but became over-confident and let their opponents back into the match.  However, Llodra was too strong at the net, Clement too precise on his service returns, for them to be really threatened and they pocketed the second set with a decisive break in the 12th game before sealing the final spot by winning the third set 6-3.

The Czech Republic took a 2-1 lead over Serbia after Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek won the doubles against Nenad Zimonjic and Novak Djokovic in Belgrade. The Czech duo fought back from a set down in the Belgrade Arena to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 after two hours and 38 minutes, staying on course to reach their second successive final.

Although they faced world doubles number three Zimonjic and fit-again Djokovic, the Czechs showed remarkable composure in a raucous atmosphere to outclass the home team.  "We are extremely happy and proud with our small but frenetic band of supporters, who account as the unofficial fifth player in our team," Berdych told a news conference.