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France advances to the United Cup semi-finals, overcoming Norway
Caroline Garcia (30) secures France’s spot in the United Cup semi-finals by defeating Malene Helgo (24) in singles and teaming up with Edouard Roger-Vasselin (40) for a victory in the doubles decider, resulting in a 2-1 triumph over Norway in Sydney on Thursday.
In the mixed doubles decider, Garcia and Roger-Vasselin outplayed Ulrikke Eikeri (31) and Casper Ruud (25) with a 7-5, 6-4 win.
The closely contested first set saw France breaking serve to claim a 6-5 lead before securing the opener. In the second set, they made the only break for a 2-1 advantage.
Reflecting on the upcoming schedule, playing captain Roger-Vasselin humorously remarked, “Tomorrow is going to be a day off. We are not that young anymore, especially me. Tomorrow will just be a day off, try to rest, enjoy Sydney maybe, and then come back strong for Saturday’s semi-final.”
World number 20 Garcia faced a second-set challenge but ultimately gave France the lead with a 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 victory over Helgo. Despite cruising through the first set, Garcia encountered resistance from Helgo, ranked 544 in the world, who rallied in the second set’s tiebreaker, making it a challenging contest for the French player.
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“It was a crazy match. Malene was a player I didn’t know, but she just hit the ball so well,” Garcia said. “I went through all the emotions out there and had to find a way through. Today it was almost too much, but in the end, I got the point.”
Ruud, coming off two consecutive singles victories, revived Norway in the tie with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Adrian Mannarino (35).
World number 22 Mannarino found no answer to Ruud’s clinical game, narrowly avoiding a ‘bagel’ by holding his last service game of the first set before showing improvement in the second.
Norway is set to face top-seeded Poland in Saturday’s semi-final in Sydney. The match between Greece and Germany on Friday will determine the opponent for Australia in the other semi-final.
