• Davis Cup

France seal final berth

France have won the Davis Cup nine times © Getty Images

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France booked their place in the Davis Cup final for the first time since 2002 after Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement won their doubles match to snatch an unassailable 3-0 lead against Argentina.

Pairing up for the first time in two years when Llodra's usual partner Julien Benneteau was ruled out with an injury, the pair sealed a 6-4 7-5 6-3 victory over Horacio Zeballos and Eduardo Schwank to end Argentina's dreams of a place in the final.

"This is fabulous. I am, with my mates, in the Davis Cup final, now with my mate Arnaud, I'm so happy," said Llodra, who won his singles rubber against Juan Monaco on Friday. "We're like good wine, we get better with age."

The result renders the result of Sunday's singles rubbers irrelevant, but in the other semi-final the pressure will be on Viktor Troicki to keep Serbia in the clash after Czech Republic snatched the momentum.

World No. 7 Tomas Berdych went some way to atone for his singles defeat to Janko Tipsarevic on Friday, when he paired up with Radek Stepanek to put last year's finalists 2-1 ahead with a 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-1 win over Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic.

US Open finalist Djokovic returned after illness, but he was unable to provide the home crowd with anything to cheer about as the Czechs battled back from a set down to take the momentum in their tie.

Troicki takes on Berdych in Sunday's first clash as Serbia vie to reach the final for the first time.

Meanwhile in the World Group play-offs, Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt battled back from two sets down to beat Simone Bolelli and Potito Starace as Sweden took a 2-1 lead over Italy.

Australia are one win away from promotion into the World Group after Paul Hanley and Lleyton Hewitt won their doubles clash, while Kazakhstan secured an historic win over Switzerland in Astana.

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