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France, Australia split opening Davis singles

Cedric Pioline used his greater experience and guile to wear down teenager Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 and bring France level at 1-1 against Australia in the Davis Cup final yesterday.

But Pioline had to overcome a bad attack of nerves on the brink of victory when he allowed Hewitt to come back from 1-5 in the third set and wasted a match point before finally winning through in three hours 40 minutes.

Mark Philippoussis crushed France's Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the opening singles in just under two hours.

Hewitt, 18 and unbeaten in four Davis Cup singles this year, was in scintillating form in the early stages but had to save three break points in the second game.

Hewitt broke his 30-year-old opponent in the next game but the Frenchman broke back to 3-3 as he gradually began to neutralise Hewitt's dashing strokeplay from the baseline of the clay court.

Pioline wasted three set points at 6-3 in the tiebreak and then saw Hewitt serve a double fault when leading 7-6. Pioline finally won through 9-7 and took a 4-2 lead in the second set by pushing Hewitt about the clay court and forcing errors.

Twice a Grand Slam finalist, Pioline let Hewitt break back for 5-5. The Frenchman wasted another two set points in the tiebreak before taking the second set 8-6.

Hewitt was now deflated as the crowd roared Pioline on and the Australian quickly slumped 0-3 and then 1-5 down in the third set.

But Pioline, the highest ranked player in the final at 13, suddenly lost his way, wasting a match point at 5-2 and allowing Hewitt to fight back to 5-5.

The 11th game of the set was crucial and full of courageous shot-making by both players. Pioline saved four break points to take a 6-5 lead and broke Hewitt for the match.

Earlier, Philippoussis, the big-serving Australian dominated his younger opponent to win in just under two hours on his first match point.

''I'm extremely happy with how I played. I was solid today. I stayed calm,'' Philippoussis said.

''This is what it (the Davis Cup) is all about,'' he said after enjoying vociferous support from a large contingent of Australian fans in the 10,000 capacity crowd.

Philippousis, who used his booming first serve to great effect, broke his opponent five times in the match while allowing Grosjean only one service break in the opening set.

French captain Guy Forget had predicted that a tall and heavy player like the world number 19 would have trouble on the indoor clay surface and tire quickly, but the Australian was rarely in trouble.

Grosjean, playing in his first Davis Cup season, played limply and it was the Frenchman who was forced to do all the running in the one-sided match.

Australia have won the Cup 26 times and the French eight times, including twice in the 1990s when they were underdogs.

UNI

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