Marseille: Kristina Mladenovic put France 2-1 up over Italy in a Fed Cup World Group first round tie in Marseille on Sunday by defeating Sara Errani 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.
In what was a matchup of the two national number ones, Mladenovic was behind early on 3-1, but from that point on she dominated the tie and ran out a comfortable winner in the end.
Saturday's action had seen Mladenovic fall in three sets to Camila Giorgi, while Errani lost to Caroline Garcia.
Garcia can now qualify France for a semi-final tie against the Netherlands by defeating Giorgi in the second of the reverse singles matches.
The Dutch earlier completed a 3-0 sweep of last year's beaten finalists Russia in Moscow.
"I tried to learn from what happened yesterday," said Mladenovic. "Sara is a fighter and she has great variety and lift to her game. I just had to go for it and stay with it."
AFP
