France seemingly have one foot in the Davis Cup final, as Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga thrashed Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol without dropping a set, to give France a 2-0 advantage in the tie.

Before the matches were announced on Thursday, Richard Gasquet wasn't expected to play singles after a poor year where he has slipped out of the top twenty. But he was selected due to Gael Monfils needing a break, and he fully capitalised on his opportunity. His opponent, Tomas Berdych simply wasn't ready to play on clay, and gave a lacklustre performance as Gasquet won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. The French no. 3 made 16 less errors than his Czech counterpart, who never looked comfortable on court, stating "It was my worst Davis Cup match, but also Richard played well." "This is the toughest conditions for me, coming from fast hard courts to the clay. I definitely need more time, but it was a good choice for France."

Buoyed by a passionate Roland Garros support, Gasquet broke early on in the opening set and never looked back, dropping serve just once in the match while taking 6 break points. Afterwards, he was ecstatic, saying "This was one of my best wins ever, the atmosphere was great, this is the Davis Cup, at Roland Garros, and I beat a top player!"

After the opening rubber, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lukas Rosol walked out onto Court Philippe Chatrier for a battle between two big-hitters. There was to be no repeat of the underdog victory that preceded the match, but it was to be another straight sets win. Tsonga, winner of the recent Toronto Masters, served well throughout, and his good serving reaped rewards.

While Berdych's defeat to Gasquet was near self-capitulation, Rosol's defeat was nothing of the sort. He made just 7 more unforced errors than his highly fancied opponent, but was blown of the court as Tsonga hit 20 more winners. Post-match, Tsonga said "It is great to win on this court, it was just an unbelievable atmosphere here", and he later added "This crowd is unbelievable like always, they support us a lot and we try our best to make them happy".

On Saturday Gael Monfils and Julien Benneteau are pencilled in to take on Radek Stepanek and Jiri Vesely. Follow all the action here at VAVEL!

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About the author
Harry Cairns
Tennis writer.