The French team defeated Richard Casquet (86th worldwide) 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, Czech Republic’s Thomas Machak (143rd) on Thursday in the first match of the Davis Cup Group C Division. The second solo of the meeting was a duel between Nicholas Mahut – Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Stenek Kolar – Giri Leheka, before Adrian Mannarino (71st) collided with Giri Wesley (82nd).
Great Britain, the third team in Group C, will clash with France on Saturday. At 35, Caskett collapsed physically against a 21-year-old opponent who had fully played his luck. “I can not stand it anymore,” he told his captain, Sebastien Grosjean, during a side switch in the middle of the second round.
The Frenchman made the first break in the first set before giving up his next clash. The two Czech-dominated players came into the tie break with five forced errors by Casket. Then the match turned completely in favor of Machak, and the forced errors made by the casket helped the mountain.
After 1h33 (including 56 minutes in the first leg), the Czech Republic led France 1-0.