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A22 SPORTS
Friday 23 November 2018

Chardy to open for France against Croatia in Davis Cup final

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN and subtle. The strength in
AP Sports Writer this team is that we have
LILLE, France (AP) — With three players capable of
no player standing out as a playing in singles."
clear leader, France cap- Noah took advantage of a
tain Yannick Noah chose new rule this year increas-
Jeremy Chardy ahead of ing the size of teams from
Lucas Pouille for the open- four to five players, giving
ing match of the Davis Cup captains more leeway in
final against Croatia. selection. He said Pouille,
The 40th-ranked Chardy, in who was born close to Lille,
the team only after Richard will be ready to play on
Gasquet withdrew injured, Sunday if needed.
will lead defending cham- "Honestly, I was not sur-
pion France against Borna prised," Croatia captain
Coric on indoor clay at Zeljko Krajan said of Noah's
Pierre Mauroy Stadium on nominations. "I know Yan-
Friday. nick can sometimes pull a
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who's joker out of his pocket and
missed most of the year I thought Chardy could be
through injury and dropped his joker this weekend."
to 259th in the rankings, will Tsonga appears to be set
play Marin Cilic, Croatia's up for a thrashing from Cil-
top player, in the second In this Friday, Jan. 19, 2018 file photo, France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reaches for a forehand to ic.
singles. Australia's Nick Kyrgios during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships Cilic qualified for the eight-
Pouille sealed France's vic- in Melbourne, Australia. Associated Press man ATP Finals this month,
tory over Belgium in last while Tsonga returned to
year's final and was widely is a terrific attacking play- "I did not feel I'm the favor- year, he fielded an inexpe- competitive tennis only in
expected to be playing er." ite," the 12th-ranked Co- rienced pair in doubles and September after a seven-
again. Although he's in his first Da- ric said. "It's 50-50. I've lost was rewarded by a victory month absence due to a
Noah explained after the vis Cup final, Chardy has twice against Chardy. The that put France one point knee injury.
draw on Thursday, "I have won all three of his previous last time on clay." away from the title. But Noah said he has been
the feeling that in Davis rubbers on indoor clay, and It's the second consecu- "It's never easy to make impressed by Tsonga's form
Cup the one who attacks has a 2-1 record against tive year Noah has taken choices," Noah said. during France's training
generally wins. And Jeremy Coric. a gamble in the final. Last "This one was very difficult, camp.q

England, South Korea, Australia tied for lead at World Cup

By DENNIS PASSA the day when you can take career points in Ryder Cup victory over Dustin Johnson. position and that's exactly
AP Sports Writer yourself out of the tourna- events for Europe over the He was happy with the way what you have to do."
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ment pretty quickly. In four- United States. He had two he and Hatton combined Leishman said he and
— World Cup or Ryder Cup: balls you're always going to in Europe's win in Paris in for the fourballs on Thurs- Smith, who will play in the
Put Ian Poulter into a team make birdies and hopefully late September — one with day. next-to-last group Friday
event and he never seems you don't make any mis- Rory McIlroy in foursomes "We dovetailed nicely, with Malaysia, need to
to disappoint. takes." (he also lost with McIlory in when one was out of posi- avoid any early mistakes
Poulter's approach to less Poulter has picked up 15 foursomes) and a singles tion, the other one was in "If you get off to an aver-
than a foot helped set up age start in foursomes,
one of England's six birdies things can start going the
on the back nine Thursday wrong way pretty quickly,"
to give him and Tyrrell Hat- Leishman said.
ton a share of the lead with An said he and Kim com-
South Korea and Australia bined well to keep South Ko-
after the first round of four- rea atop the leaderboard."I
balls at the World Cup of think we saved each other
Golf.Cameron Smith made pretty good," An said.
a 10-foot birdie putt on "When he was struggling,
the 18th to ensure he and I made some birdies, and
Australia teammate Marc when I was out (of the hole)
Leishman were in a tie atop he made some good par
the leaderboard with South saves."Three teams were
Korea's Byeong Hun An and tied for fourth, one stroke
Si Woo Kim, all with 10-un- behind — Belgium (Thom-
der 62s at Metropolitan. as Pieters and Thomas De-
On Friday, the format try), Malaysia (Gavin Green
switches to foursomes, or and Ben Leong) and Soren
alternate shot, and again Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Ole-
for the final round. sen, who won the title for
"This tournament's won and Byeong Hun An of South Korea plays from the first fairway during the Australian Open Golf Denmark by four strokes
lost on Friday and Sunday," tournament in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018. two years ago at nearby
Poulter said. "Foursomes is Associated Press Kingston Heath.q