FRANCE 2 – 1 USA

France has beaten USA in a Hopman Cup tie by a close margin of 2-1. Now, they have a very good chance of achieving glory for the first time ever in the Hopman Cup. In their next tie, they will be taking on an out of form Spanish team. If they win that tie, they will qualify for the final.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the stand out performer for France in their tie against USA. He performed brilliantly in both the singles and the mixed doubles and guided his team to victory.

The French team hadn’t made a good start to the tie as in the first singles match Alize Cornet had suffered a straight set defeat against the young sensation Sloane Stephens. But, Tsonga levelled things up by beating John Isner.

It all came down to the mixed doubles and Tsonga again rose to the occasion. He held his nerves and didn’t let the lesser experienced pair of Stephens and Isner pull off an upset. The match went all the way down to the wire with the third and final set going into the tie breaker, but, eventually, the outcome went in the favour of the French pair.

Tsonga’s record in the Hopman Cup in the last couple of years has been fantastic. He has featured in 5 matches in the tournament during that period and has ended up winning all of them.

Talking to the reporters after her team’s win against USA, Cornet said, “USA was probably the strongest side in the group, so, beating them has certainly given us satisfaction.”

“It had really got very tight at the end, but, thankfully, we pulled it off.”

This is the 20^th time that the French team is participating in the Hopman Cup.