Lucas Pouille unceremoniously beat Steve Darcis (6-3, 6-1 and 6-0) and sealed the Davis Cup title to France, the tenth in its history and the first since 2001.
Pouille did not give an option to surprise and solved the victory with authority to add the third point for the French team and break the tie previously established by Belgian David Goffin, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (5) , 6-3 and 6-2 in two hours and 44 minutes, in the duel between the two number one.
France, who entered the final day of the final in Lille with a series lead after victory in the doubles match on Saturday, took advantage of the second of their options to achieve success.
The final match of the Pierre Mauroy Stadium final was left to the second players of the respective finalists. An unprecedented clash between Lucas Pouille, the eighteenth racket on the circuit, winner this year in Vienna, Stuttgart and Budapest and a finalist in Marseille, with four titles in his history at the age of twenty-three; and a background greater than that of veteran Darcis, with only two trophies and the last nine seasons ago, in Memphis. The 33-year-old tennis player from Liège was never close to winning.
Pouille, spurred on by the fans who packed the pavilion, had an overwhelming start. At the time of the game he already had half a win in his hand after having closed, almost without setbacks, the first two sets by 6-3 and 6-1.
Belgium, who were aspiring in their second final to the first Davis Cup title in their history, did not give a sensation of reaction. In fact, in the third set he soon lost his serve and found himself with an insurmountable and definitive 5-0 against.
Pouille, who did not give his rival any chance of breaking serve, closed the victory after one hour and 34 minutes and France conquered the Salad Bowl for the tenth time.
Captained by Yannick Noah and with a quartet made up of Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Lucas Pouille, Richard Gasquet and Herbert Pierre Hughes, France regained dominance in world tennis, something it had not achieved since 2010 and had been close on three other occasions since. without success (he lost the 2002 finals against Russia, 2010 against Serbia and 2014 against Switzerland).
France beat Belgium and won the Davis Cup for the tenth time to tie with Great Britain as the third most successful country in this competition: the United States (32) and Australia (28). EFE