Friday, 30 November, 2001, 09:29 GMT
Rafter squares final
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/1684013.stm
Pat Rafter shrugged off his tendinitis to beat
Sebastien Grosjean 6-3 7-6 (8/6) 7-5 and pull
Australia level with France in the Davis Cup final.

Earlier, France took a 1-0 lead in Melbourne when
Nicolas Escude maintained his perfect record in
Davis Cup singles play.

He won his seventh consecutive match to beat Lleyton
Hewitt 4-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Rafter was down a break in the second set and Grosjean
was serving for the set at 5-3 when Rafter broke back
and then sent it into a tiebreaker.

Grosjean had three set points in the tiebreaker but
Rafter saved all three.

The Frenchman then double-faulted to set up set point,
then hit a forehand long to give Rafter the tiebreaker
8-6 and the second set.

Rafter completed his win in less than two hours,
breaking Grosjean's serve in the final game to the
delight of the home crowd.

He been fighting to stay fit for the match after
suffering in the past several weeks from tendinitis
in his right arm.

"I've done a lot of work in training to try to get the
arm right, and I'm glad it's worked out," Rafter said
afterwards.



----------------------------------------------------
Davis Cup final draw

Saturday's doubles (0300 GMT)
Wayne Arthurs & Todd Woodbridge v Cedric Pioline & Fabrice Santoro

Sunday's reverse singles (0000 GMT)
Lleyton Hewitt v Sebastien Grosjean
Pat Rafter v Nicolas Escude