Sydney (AFP)

Beaten 6-3, 6-7, 10/3 in their decisive double against Serbia, the French team abandoned 1st place in their group A to the band of Novak Djokovic in ATP Cup and sees the quarterfinals away.

In the moist oven of Brisbane, Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin encountered the cold realism of the Serbian world N.2, always ready to cool one of its passing the Queensland Tennis Center where the humidity flirted with the 80 %.

By winning, the pair Djokovic / Troicki offered the point of 2-1 to Serbia against France and secured the head of group A, synonymous with qualification for the quarters.

To hope to hang one of the tickets reserved for the two best second runners-up of the six groups, the Habs, coached by Gilles Simon, will have to crush in their last match Wednesday South Africa which largely dominated Chile 3-0 Monday.

Because the division between second will be made in the number of singles and doubles won.

The "Arms" launched by Benoit Paire in the gallery will not have allowed the French to overcome the Serbian wall.

The Avignon player had done the job and launched the Blues perfectly, bringing them their first point Monday against Dusan Lajovic beaten 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4.

But in the process, Gaël Monfils only held five games against "Nole". Five games during which, the "Monf" got two break points on the first game and even three more at 2-2, without ever converting them.

One was enough for Djokovic, who followed in stride (6-3, 6-2) to sign a 16th success in as many confrontations against the Parisian despite the "worst conditions of humidity encountered in (his) career".

In Group B, Rafael Nadal's Spain is on the royal road for the quarters with his new 3-0 card against Uruguay, after his success on the same score against Georgia on Saturday.

The world number one outclassed Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-1 in just 73 minutes in Perth and ensured a second success for Spain who will compete for 1st place in the group Wednesday in Japan, 2-1 winner from Georgia.

In Group E, Croatia won their 2-1 match against Poland and completed the pass two despite Borna Coric's loss to Hubert Hurkacz.

Austria opened its meter after its inaugural defeat against the Croatian team by sweeping Argentina 3-0, in particular thanks to a success of Dominic Thiem 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) against Diego Schwartzman.

The results of the ATP Cup after the matches played on Monday:

GROUP A

In Brisbane

Serbia - France 2 - 1

Benoit Paire (FRA) - Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4

Novak Djokovic (SRB) - Gaël Monfils (FRA) 6-4, 6-2

Novak Djokovic / Viktor Troicki (SRB) - Nicolas Mahut / Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-7, 10/3

South Africa - Chile 3 - 0

Lloyd Harris (RSA) - Nicolas Jarry (CHI) 6-4, 6-4

Kevin Anderson (RSA) - Christian Garin (CHI) 6-0, 6-3

Raven Klaasen / Ruan Roelofse (RSA) - Christian Garin / Nicolas Jarry (CHI) 1-6, 6-3, 10-7

GROUP B

In Perth

Spain - Uruguay

Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) - Franco Roncadelli (URU) 6-1, 6-2

Rafael Nadal (ESP) - Pablo Cuevas (URU) 6-2, 6-1

Pablo Carreno- Busta / Feliciano Lopez (ESP) - Ariel Behar / Juan Martin Fumeaux (URU) 6-1, 3-6, 10/3

Japan - Georgia 2 - 1

Go Soeda (JPN) - Aleksandre Metreveli (GEO) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) - Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 6-2, 6-3

Aleksandre Bakshi / Zura Tkemaladze (GEO) - Toshihide Matsui / Ben McLachlan (JPN) 6-2, 6-4

GROUP E

In Sydney

Austria - Argentina 3-0

Dennis Novak (AUT) - Guido Pella (ARG) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4

Dominic Thiem (AUT) - Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3)

Oliver Marach / Jurgen Melzer (AUT) - Maximo Gonzalez / Andres Molteni (ARG) 6-1, 6-4

Croatia - Poland 2 - 1

Marin Cilic (CRO) - Kacper Zuk (POL) 7-6 (10/8), 6-4

Hubert Hurkacz (POL) - Borna Coric (CRO) 6-2, 6-2

Ivan Dodig / Nikola Mektic (CRO) - Hubert Hurkacz / Lukasz Kubot (POL) 6-2, 6-1

© 2020 AFP