The United States on Sunday reached the Davis Cup semi-finals on Sunday after John Isner overcame Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-3. Gilles Simon later beat Ryan Harrison 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 in the final singles rubber to make the final score 3-2.
France were unable to give a winning send-off to captain Guy Forget, who has been in the post since 1999 and was leading his 14th Davis Cup campaign this year before stepping down.
Under his watch, France has got through to four finals but won the competition once in 2001. France began the year optimistic of winning their 10th Davis Cup, after they were drawn at home to most of their main rivals and top players like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who was in the stands on Sunday, decided to sit out the tournament.
But they were tripped up by a strong US team who had previously beaten Switzerland, including former world number one Roger Federer, and will now face holders Spain in the last four. Brothers Bob and Mike Bryan took the visitors to the brink of a semi-finals berth on Saturday, beating Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in their doubles rubber.
That left it to Isner, the US number one singles player, to overcome French number one Tsonga. Despite being world number six, five places above Isner, Tsonga looked the weaker of the two and less experienced, frequently arguing with the umpire as the first two sets slipped from his grasp. On the other hand Isner stayed focused, even after he had to chase away a wasp with his racket.
Tsonga finally got his game together and managed to take the third set but the impressive American did not panic and fought back to take the fourth, giving his team an unassailable 3-1 lead.