Ten-time Davis Cup winners France have bowed out of the group stage with a win.
Captain Sebastien Grosjean’s team beat Belgium 2-1 at Hamburg’s Rothenbaum, who will travel home winless. Both teams had already been eliminated in Group C. Germany and Australia qualified on Friday for the final tournament in Malaga at the end of November and will play for the group win on Sunday.
Old star Richard Gasquet underlined his good form with an unchallenged 6:3, 6:3 against Michael Geerts and put France in the lead. David Goffin then equalised the score, beating Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. In the final doubles match, 40-year-old Nicolas Mahut and Arthur Rinderknech beat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 7-6 (8-6).