South Africa defeats France 2-1 as they both lose chance to advance

In order to get among the Final 8 at the ATP Cup, both France and South Africa needed a 3-0 victory or a high % margin of won sets or games. None of them managed to do so, and so they opened the gates for a team of Canada who can follow up on their success at the Davis Cup Finals.

Gilles Simon faced George Harris in the opening match of the last tie of the group stage in Brisbane. The Frenchman lost the first set 2-6, but he was able to come back and won the second and third set twice 6-2 to give his country an important lead.

It all looked great for France as in the second match, Benoit Paire led already 6-2 and 5-3 over Kevin Anderson and he was close to earning 2nd point for his country. However, the former world number 5 fought back to level the score after the second set and force the third decisive set. There, it was Paire again who led 5-3 and had a match point, but he did not convert it and Anderson forced another tie-break. Paire had to give his best, as he performed a great around the net shot, but that was still not enough to beat Anderson. He has won also the second tie-break of the match to level the score of the tie to 1-1.

In the doubles, Klaasen & Roelofse defeated Mahut & Roger-Vasselin 6-3 and 6-4 to earn the second point for their country, but they knew it was not enough. Belgium and Canada are the lucky ones, who advance from the second place to the quarterfinals.

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