France close in on title

Fabrice Santoro and Nicolas Escude have pushed France to within one victory of a successful Davis Cup title defence by beating Russian duo Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in a five-set thriller.

Playing before 15,000 fans in Bercy, Santoro and Escude trailed by two sets to one but fought back to claim a 6-3 3-6 5-7 6-3 6-4 win in the doubles.