Australia, France progress to Davis Cup quarters

[February 04, 2017]  (Reuters) - Australia and France moved into the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Saturday when their doubles teams got the victories that gave them unassailable 3-0 leads over the Czech Republic and Japan respectively.

In Tokyo, French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut dispatched home partners Yuichi Sugita and Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3 6-4 6-4 to clinch the tie with a day to spare.

"We were favorites, so like you said, the job had to be done and that's what we did," Herbert, one of the world's top- ranked doubles players, said.

In Melbourne, home pair Sam Gorth and John Peers were even more dominant, beating Jan Satral and Jiri Vesely 6-3 6-2 6-2.

Australia will play the United States or Switzerland in the next round while France will face either Canada or Britain.

The remaining six ties will be decided over the weekend. The U.S. are 2-0 up against Switzerland while Canada are level at 1-1 with Britain in Ottawa.

Champions Argentina are 2-0 down at home to Italy and need a huge comeback to avoid giving up their crown at the first hurdle.

Belgium and Croatia, and Spain and Germany, were both tied at 1-1 after Friday's singles rubbers, while Serbia, who have Novak Djokovic in their team, lead Russia 2-0.

(Reporting by Andrew Downie, editing by Ed Osmond)

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