France kept their hopes of a second successive Hopman Cup title alive by edging past Australia at the Perth Arena on Wednesday.
The French pairing of Alize Cornet, who teamed with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win the mixed teams tournament last year, and Benoit Paire won the Group B tie 2-1, after taking out the deciding mixed doubles rubber against Casey Dellacqua and Marinko Matosevic.
With one win and a loss from their two ties, Cornet and Paire, who replaced the injured Tsonga at the tournament, will need to defeat unbeaten Poland on Friday to be in with a chance to advance to Saturday’s final of the eight-nation tournament.
If the Polish pairing of Agnieszka Radwanska and Jerzy Janowicz win Friday’s tie they will go through to the title decider.
Radwanska and Grzegorz Panfil were beaten in last year’s final by the French.
World number 18 Cornet, who appeared to be troubled by a lower back complaint, had her hands full with local favourite Casey Dellacqua early and it was the 29th-ranked Australia who took the first set 6-4.
At 5-5 in the second set the match was evenly poised, but the Frenchwoman then won seven successive games to put her on her way to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win.
Paire then looked set to secure the tie for the French when he took the first set against Matosevic, but the Australian substitute player fought back to win the match in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The French then claimed the mixed doubles, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 in a very tight battle.
Earlier, Radwanska and Janowicz remained unbeaten after two ties by claiming the deciding mixed doubles rubber against Great Britain’s Heather Watson and Andy Murray.
Radwanska gave the Poles the early ascendancy when she was far too good for 50th-ranked Watson, winning plenty of cheap points through Watson errors in her 65-minute 6-3, 6-1 win.
Radwanska said she played significantly better than when defeating Australian Casey Dellacqua on Sunday.
“I felt very good on the court today and in the second set I was playing much better, I think more consistent and confident and that’s for sure,” she said.
Radwanska said defeat in last year’s final would motivate her in Friday’s tie against the French.
Murray, ranked sixth in the world, levelled the tie with an impressive 6-2, 6-4 win over Janowicz.
The Scot dropped the first two games against the dangerous Janowicz, but then reeled off nine successive games to take total control.
Murray had complained of shoulder pain after his opening win against Paire. While he was still a little sore during the clash with Janowicz, he said it was nothing to be concerned about.
“My shoulder felt much better today,” Murray said.
“As I’m playing the matches it’s starting to feel a little bit better.
“It’s not like when I play on it it gets much worse, I do feel much better after a bit of rest and treatment on it.”
In the mixed doubles, the Poles were always in control in their 6-4, 6-4 winning match, creating 15 break points to their opponents’ three during the match.