Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra kept France alive in their Davis Cup quarterfinal against the United States on Saturday with an impressive 6-7, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 win over Bob and Mike Bryan.
The Americans will go into Sunday's reverse singles with a 2-1 lead but will be disappointed their top-ranked doubles duo did not close out the tie on day two of the tie.
Andy Roddick is slated to play Paul-Henri Mathieu in the opening match on Sunday, while James Blake will take on Llodra in the fifth rubber.
The writing was on the wall for the Americans when Mike Bryan netted a forehand and allowed the Frenchmen to go ahead 4-3 with a break in the fourth set.
Despite the setback, the US would still fancy its chances of securing a last-four showdown against Spain since France has only surged back to win a tie from 0-2 down on three occasions - the last time being against Italy in the 1996 semifinals.
In career meetings, Clement and Llodra now have a 4-2 winning record against Bob and Mike Bryan - the Frenchmen won their last outing in the 2007 Wimbledon final.
"We knew before the match we had to play a very good match because a good match is never enough against them," Llodra said. "It was the same match at Wimbledon, we lost the first set in the tiebreaker and then won the next three sets."
The loss prevented the Bryans from surpassing John McEnroe and Peter Fleming as the most successful American doubles pairing in the men's team event.
McEnroe and Fleming hold a 14-1 win-loss record, while the Bryans are now 14-2.
After saving a set point against them in the opening set, the Americans bagged the first set when Mike Bryan hit a winning forehand crosscourt volley to take the tiebreak 9-7.
The Bryans celebrated the moment with one of their trademark chest bumps, but their joy was short-lived.
The French secured the first break of the match in the second set when Clement produced a sizzling backhand crosscourt volley.
The French kept up the momentum in the third set by racing into a 2-0 lead thanks to a forehand error from Bob Bryan and went on to secure a memorable victory.
Spain shines
Spain became the first country to qualify for the Davis Cup semifinals following victory in the doubles to give it an unassailable 3-0 lead over Germany on Saturday.
Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez earned their side a berth into the last four with a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (1), 6-4, 2-6, 12-10 victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner in four hours, 45 minutes.
On Friday Rafael Nadal returned to Davis Cup action following an absence of a year and a half, beating Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (5), 6-0, 6-3, and David Ferrer got the better of Kohlschreiber 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
China beats Indonesia
China won their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone group 2 clash with Indonesia after taking an unassailable 3-1 lead on Sunday.
Bai Yan, ranked 505, beat Indonesia's Christopher Rungkat 6-1, 6-4, 1-6, 6-0 following two singles successes for China on Friday.
It means China progress to the third round in September.
Indonesia's only win against China was in Saturday's doubles match-up.
Bai Yan began his match aggressively and sealed the first set with the loss of just one game. He won the second set 6-4 before losing the third 1-6.
But the Chinese player recovered to take the fourth set and the match after breaking Rungkat's service three consecutive times.
"I know I made many errors in the third set. But I also realized that fatigue had already hit Rungkat, so I did not try my best to take that set," he told journalists through an interpreter.
One more singles match will be played later on Sunday, but the result will not affect China's progression to the next round, to be played against New Zealand.
(Agencies April 14, 2008)