Former Roland Garros doubles champions Garcia and Mladenovic beat Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to secure the winning point and a final date against Australia in November.

Victory was a diplomatic coup for France coach Julien Benneteau who teamed up Garcia and Mladenovic for the first time in Fed Cup since 2016 after which the pair had a bitter falling out which led to a self-imposed Fed Cup exile for Garcia, her country’s top player.

“Every match was incredible,” Benneteau told fedcup.com. “I am so proud of them. It was always my intention to put them together — and it was not hard to do.”

Earlier Sunday, French Open champion Halep won her second singles of the weekend, seeing off Garcia 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4 for a 2-1 lead in the semi-final.

Veteran Pauline Parmentier then beat a hobbling Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to pull France level.

In a tense deciding rubber, Halep, whose doubles ranking is in the 400s, committed a double fault to concede the break in the ninth game of the final set before Garcia held her nerve to serve out the victory.

France, who won the last of their two titles in 2003, will travel to Australia for the final.

Six-time champions Australia, whose most recent title was in 1974, reached a first final in 26 years by seeing off Belarus 3-2 in Brisbane in a tie also settled by a three-set deciding doubles rubber.

Halep gave Romania a lead on Saturday by seeing off Mladenovic 6-3, 6-1 before Garcia swept past Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3, 6-3 to level the tie.

“I knew it would be more difficult than yesterday,” said Halep after registering a ninth successive singles win in a tournament that Romania have yet to win.

“It felt like playing at home, that was how I was able to fight to the end. I won it for the fans who came here.”

Halep’s win over Garcia, her sixth in seven meetings, took almost three hours with the crucial break in the final set coming in the eighth game when the French number one served up back-to-back double faults.

Australia made the championship match when Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur battled past Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

The tie was sent into the crucial doubles match after two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka crushed Stosur 6-1, 6-1 in the reverse singles, after Barty swept past Sabalenka 6-2, 6-2.

“I could not have picked two more perfect athletes to compete. Ash and Sam are superstars,” said captain Alicia Molik who will look to inspire a first title since 1974 for Australia in the final.

Barty called making the final “unbelievable” while Stosur said it was “super exciting”.

“We knew it was going to be a tough one and we just so happy with how we played,” added Stosur. “All the girls have worked so hard throughout the year and we really stick together.”

LOS ANGELES – FORMER world No 1 Ariya Jutanugarn roared back to form yesterday, finishing a season’s best joint third at the Lotte Championship in Los Angeles. Despite ending with a double bogey on 18, the world No 2 signed off with a round of 73 for a total 11-under-par 277, five strokes behind the winner, Canada’s Brooke Henderson.

“I feel pretty good. I feel like everything is getting better than the last few months because I was thinking about the outcome too much, so right now it’s getting a lot better,” said Ariya whose previous 2019 top 10 finish (tied eighth) was in February’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.

The Thai ace was just two shots off the lead after 14 holes but a bogey on the 15th followed by a double bogey to finish pushed her back to third.

“It was tough, especially today as it was really windy, stronger than the first three rounds. Overall it was a good round except for the double bogey on the 18th,” said Ariya, who shared the third place along with Minjee Lee of Australia.

Ariya’s sister Moriya shot a total of 280 to land tied for ninth while Thai rookie Pajaree Anannarukarn followed a stroke behind in joint 12th, her best result on the Tour to date.

Henderson meanwhile captured her second consecutive Lotte Championship, winning her eighth LPGA title to match Sandra Post for the most all-time tour triumphs by a Canadian. Henderson fired a final-round two-under par 70 at Oahu’s Ko Olina Golf Club course to finish 72 holes in Hawaii on 16-under par 272 for a four-stroke victory over South Korea’s Ji Eun-hee.

Post, 70, claimed eight tour titles from 1968 through 1981.

“It’s amazing to be mentioned in the same sentence with Sandra Post,” Henderson said.

Henderson, 21, also equalled the best showing by any Canadian man on the US PGA Tour, with Mike Weir and George Knudson having each won eight career titles.

“It has just been surreal the last few years,” Henderson said. “It’s just really amazing to get this win to tie Sandra and Mike Weir too.

“I’m so happy. I’m just glad I could come out on top.”

Henderson, who shared the third-round lead with American Nelly Korda, won her first LPGA title at the 2015 Portland Classic as a qualifier. She won twice each in 2016, 2017 and 2018 with her lone major title coming at the 2016 Women’s PGA Championship.

The world No 4 pair, who upset world No 1 Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China en route to their Singapore Open victory earlier this month, are now the best hope for Thailand in the continent’s top tournament, starting tomorrow in Wuhan, China.

The pair will open their account against Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh of India and will seek to maintain their top form and go deep in a tournament where they were runners-up in 2017, losing to Huang and Lukai in the final.

While 2015 champion Ratchanok opted to skip the event for the mixed team Sudirman Cup, in Nanning from May 19-26, three other Thai women will represent the Kingdom this week.

World No 20 and Thai No 2 Pornpawee Chochuwong will carry Thai hopes in the women’s singles where she opens her campaign against Lee Ying Ying of Malaysia. World No 24 Busanan Ongbamrungphan faces Yeo Jia Min of Singapore and Nitchaon Jindapol has a daunting task against fifth-seeded He Bingjiao of China.

With world and defending champion No 1 Tai Tzu Ying not taking part, Chen Yufei of China, last year’s runner-up, and 2017 world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan are the top two seeds.

In the men’s singles, world No 1 and reigning champion Kento Momota of Japan as well as top Chinese stars Lin Dan, a four-time champion here, 2017 winner Chen Long and world No 2 Shi Yuqi are strong contenders.

Thailand’s top four – Khosit Phetpradab, No 17, Kantaphon Wangcharoen, No 18, Suppanyu Avihingsanon, No 28 and Sittthikom Thammasin, No 30 – will attempt to cause some damage.

Henderson fired a final-round two-under par 70 at Oahu’s Ko Olina Golf Club course to finish 72 holes in Hawaii on 16-under par 272 for a four-stroke victory over South Korea’s Ji Eun-hee.

Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and Australian Minjee Lee shared third on 277, one stroke ahead of American Danielle Kang, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and South Korea’s Choi Hye-jin.

Post, 70, claimed eight tour titles from 1968 through 1981.

“It’s amazing to be mentioned in the same sentence with Sandra Post,” Henderson said.

Henderson, 21, also equaled the best showing by any Canadian man on the US PGA Tour, with Mike Weir and George Knudson having each won eight career titles.

“It has just been surreal the last few years,” Henderson said. “It’s just really amazing to get this win to tie Sandra and Mike Weir too.

“I’m so happy. I’m just glad I could come out on top.”

Henderson, who shared the third-round lead with American Nelly Korda, won her first LPGA title at the 2015 Portland Classic as a qualifier. She won twice each in 2016, 2017 and 2018 with her lone major title coming at the 2016 Women’s PGA Championship.

Henderson, who shared the lead with American Nelly Korda when the day began, opened with a bogey but bounced back with birdies at the third and par-5 fifth holes to remain atop the leaderboard.

She birdied the par-4 11th after driving to the fringe of the green to stretch her lead to three strokes over 10th-ranked Korda and 20th-ranked Ji Eun-hee.

Birdies at the par-5 13th and 14th holes pulled Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn to 14-under, two back of Henderson, but the world number three missed a 20-foot par putt to bogey 15 and fall three adrift.

Henderson held fast, sinking a clutch eight-foot par putt at the par-3 16th to maintain her margin.

Rivals were unable to close the gap and deny her a historic triumph alongside her sister and caddie Brittany with her parents watching from the family home in Smiths Falls, Ontario.

“My parents have sacrificed so much for us to have this dream out here, to make our dream a reality,” said Henderson.

World number two Halep outclassed Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-1 in the northern French city of Rouen where 1,000 Romanian fans drowned out the larger home support.

French number one Caroline Garcia, the world number 21, then made a point of cupping her ear to the Romanian fans after easing to a 6-3, 6-3 win over 30th-ranked Mihaela Buzarnescu as the opening day ended all square.

“I have won a Grand Slam, been world number one and now this is the next goal,” Halep told fedcup.com after her eighth successive win in the tournament which last saw Romania make the final in 1973.

“It was hard to control my emotions but here in this arena, there are so many Romanians that I felt we were playing at home.

“They were louder than the French and the energy they gave us was amazing.”

French captain Julien Benneteau took a gamble on Mladenovic, who reached the top 10 in late 2017 but had won only 24 of her last 70 matches to slip to 66 in the world.

Mladenovic had won three of her five encounters with Halep but on Saturday struggled in her service games and did not have the tools to stop the Romanian steamroller.

Garcia then claimed a third win in three singles rubbers since she returned from a two-year exile after falling out with her Fed Cup teammates.

Buzarnescu was unable to ride the wave of Romanian support and remains without a singles win in the Fed Cup in seven years.

In the other semi-final in Brisbane, Australia and Belarus also shared the spoils with world number nine Ashleigh Barty sweeping past Victoria Azarenka after Aryna Sabalenka had ground down veteran Samantha Stosur.

While Belarus are bidding to reach the final for the second time in three attempts, after being beaten by the United States in 2017, Australia are targeting their first decider in 26 years.

It’s been an even longer wait between titles, with the last of Australia’s seven victories coming in 1974.

“I’m so proud of the level of tennis the girls put on today,” said Australia captain Alicia Molik.

“It’s a great position we’re in and we are prepared for a fifth rubber if necessary.”

An ice cool Barty, who has rocketed through the ranks, breaking into the top 10 with her win at the Miami Open this month, proved too much for tour doubles partner Azarenka at the Pat Rafter Arena, winning 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

It hauled Australia back into the tie after world number 10 Sabalenka toiled for 2hrs 47mins to battle past former US Open champion Stosur 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in the opening rubber.

Massimiliano Allegri’s side had needed just one more point for a 35th Scudetto and their latest title triumph helped ease some of the pain of their shock Champions League exit at the Juventus Stadium to Ajax on Tuesday.

And a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Fiorentina was enough to give them a 20-point lead on nearest rivals Napoli with five games to play.

Serbian defender Nikola Milenkovic put Fiorentina ahead after less than six minutes.

But Alex Sandro’s diving header on 37 minutes and an own goal from Fiorentina defender German Pezzella after a Ronaldo cross in the 53rd minute sealed another title to ease their European disappointment.

“It was a great season and I adapted well. We won the Scudetto and the Italian Super Cup, which is not easy to achieve,” said Ronaldo.

“It didn’t go well in the Champions League but next year it will be better.

“I’m staying at Juve, 1,000 percent.”

It was the 34-year-old’s sixth domestic league title, having won three with Manchester United and two with Real Madrid.

The Portuguese star now has 28 trophies in total, including the Euro 2016 title with Portugal.

Bolstered by five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, Juventus dominated the domestic league with the best attack and defence.

He has scored 19 goals and had six decisive crosses, and is in the running for the top scorer award along with Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella, who has 22 goals and AC Milan’s Krzysztof Piatek on 21.

Juventus have lost only two matches, against Genoa and SPAL, with 28 wins and three draws.

Their eight straight title sees them overtake French club Lyon for the record of consecutive victories in the top five European leagues.

Juventus also equalled the record for the earliest the Italian title has been won, with five games to spare, achieved by Torino in 1948, Fiorentina in 1956 and Inter Milan in 2007.

Juventus succeeded despite having been hit hard by injuries with defender Giorgio Chiellini out along with Sami Khedira, Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala and Douglas Costa.

Ronaldo threatened early, but defender Milenkovic gave Fiorentina hope of a first win in eight trips to the Allianz Stadium.

Giovanni Simeone had the ball in the back of the net on 25 minutes but the goal was ruled offside, before Sandro got his head to Miralem Pjanic’s corner to pull the teams level before the break.

Ronaldo pushed forward after the break, crossing for Federico Bernardeschi, but Pezzella clumsily turned into his own net.

Allegri brought on teenage star Moise Kean in place of Bernardeschi on 74 minutes, but the 19-year-old could not add to his six goals in his previous six appearances.

Meanwhile, Juventus remain on track to match the record 102 points achieved under Antonio Conte in 2014.

Italy’s Fabio Fognin

Victory means Barca only have to beat Alaves on Tuesday and then Levante next Saturday to be crowned champions at Camp Nou, while three points against Alaves will be enough on its own if Atletico Madrid then lose to Valencia on Wednesday.

Whether in three days or seven, it is now surely only a matter of when rather than if Ernesto Valverde’s side successfully defend their trophy, despite Atletico keeping the gap to nine points after they edged past Eibar earlier on Saturday.

“We have to get it out of our heads that we are nine points clear,” Valverde said. “We now have three days until we play again and it will be difficult.”

Wrapping it up early though would allow Barcelona the luxury of focusing completely on the Champions League, which could give them an advantage over their semi-final opponents Liverpool, who seem to be embroiled in a Premier League race to the finish with Manchester City.

But this was no stroll, with Real Sociedad pulling level in the second half thanks to Juanmi’s equaliser, even if parity lasted less than two minutes.

Lionel Messi might not have scored but it was his cute pass that teed up the excellent Alba to score the winner after Lenglet had earlier powered in a header from Ousmane Dembele’s cross.

– Barcelona racing towards title –

Barcelona stumbled out of the blocks this season but they are now tearing down the home straight.

This was their 21st league game without defeat while Real Madrid sit 16 points behind them ahead of their game at home to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

“You always look at the matches of Real Madrid because you always consider them a rival,” Valverde said. “In their case, they may be thinking about next season.”

It was a surprise when Messi failed to score with two free-kicks in the first half while Sociedad could have been in front but Juanmi was denied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Willian Jose spurned the rebound.

There was nothing complicated about Lenglet’s opener, the Frenchman rising high above two defenders and heading into the corner for his first league goal in a Barcelona shirt.

Ter Stegen and Alba were fortunate not to be punished for a mix-up and then La Real did score, in the 62nd minute, as Juanmi slid to connect with Mikel Merino’s brilliant through ball.

But in the 64th minute, Barca were ahead again as Messi weaved one way and then the other before finding Alba to his left. The defender jinked inside and drove a shot into the far corner.

Earlier, Atletico Madrid had needed Thomas Lemar to come off the bench and find an 85th-minute winner against Eibar as they stretched their lead over Real Madrid to seven points.

Without Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa, who were both suspended, Diego Simeone’s side looked set for a stalemate that would have given Real at least a sniff of second place.

Instead Lemar, on as a substitute, tucked in Koke’s cross to deliver another timely boost to Atleti’s morale, in the same week their star goalkeeper Jan Oblak extended his contract with the club until 2023.

Lemar’s goal will have done the Frenchman’s confidence no harm either, after a difficult debut season following his 60 million-euro move from Monaco last summer. Simeone will expect more next term.

Fabio Fognini 

The shock result leaves Italian 13th seed Fognini facing unseeded Serb Dusan Lajovic in Sunday’s unscripted final.

“I played one of my worst matches on clay in 14 years,” said Nadal. “It’s difficult to find any positives — I deserved to lose.”

Fognini, who beat Nadal twice on clay in 2015, stopped a 25-set win streak in the principality for the world number two.

“The vision is clear,” added 32-year-old Nadal who was playing his first tournament in a month after opting to rest his troublesome knees.

“I played a very bad match against a good player. In that situation, you have to lose.

“I had a bad feeling, it was a tough day. I’m coming from low moments in terms of injuries, and in terms of the mental side it has not been easy to accept all the things that have been going on during recent weeks.

“Everything was wrong. I always expect the best. But you have to be ready to accept the negative things and today was a negative day.”

For 31-year-old Fognini, based just over the border in San Remo, it was a fourth career win over Nadal and third on clay.

“I had a really good week, did some good work,” said the Italian.

“I was born near here, I know how to play on clay. This will be the final that no-one expected, I just hope to recover well and be ready.

“Plus Lajovic is trained by my ex-coach — we laughed about that in the locker room.”

Fognini, cheered by thousands of compatriots on Centre Court, broke Nadal three times in a 55-minute opening set.

Nadal saved three match points while trailing a set and 5-0 as he broke Fognini in a last-gasp effort.

– ‘I really want the title’ –

But the 13th seed would not be denied, earning another pair of chances in the eighth game and claiming victory with a forehand winner down the line.

“I’m calm, I want to enjoy my victory,” Fognini said after reaching his first final at the Masters 1000 level.

“I’ve beaten Rafa on clay, I’m really happy, it was windy and tough to play.

“Of course it’s a surprise to play Lajovic, but he’s playing good.”

Fognini trailed 3-1 early in the opening set before giving himself a mental scolding: “I told myself to calm down and play.

“All of that doesn’t matter now — I’m in the final. It was difficult, you need more than 100 percent concentration to play Rafa on clay. I really want to win this title now.”

Lajovic, ranked 48th, will be playing his first ATP final after seeing off Russian 10th seed Daniil Medvedev — the conqueror of Novak Djokovic — 7-5, 6-1.

That match was also played in distracting, swirling conditions, with Lajovic making a recovery from 5-1 down after changing strategy when Medvedev had the upper hand.

Lajovic ran off 10 straight games to claim the opening set in an hour and take a 4-0 lead in the second.

“I was completely out of rhythm, to start. It was the worst nightmare, being 5-1 down,” Lajovic said.

“I’m still unaware of reaching the final, but I’m enjoying it,” added the player who has not dropped a set all week.

The 21-year-old Japanese compiled a four-day total of 17-under-par 271 to win by one shot over Malaysia’s Danny Chia (66) and American Sam Gillis (68) who were tied for second at the RM225,000 (approximately US$54,000) event.

American Trevor Simsby and Malaysia’s Amir Nazrin carded matching 69s to take the fourth and fifth spots respectively at the Bukit Jawi Golf Resort.

Sekito entered the final round with a one-shot lead, but relinquishes that lead when he dropped a shot on his very first hole.

“I bogeyed my first hole after I pushed my tee shot to the right and had to chip out from behind the trees. But after that bogey, I was less nervous because I wasn’t the sole leader so I knew I could keep chasing,” said Sekito.

With the pressure of his spirited rivals off his back, he held his nerves to stay bogey-free for the rest of the round, notching birdies on holes two, seven, 10, 12, and 15.

“Right after that hole, I made a birdie putt from six feet which gave me that extra boost. I wasn’t hitting the ball very well but I was very lucky on my back nine. I chipped in on hole 12 from 20 yards for birdie and had another good birdie putt from 10 metres on hole 15,” said the young Japanese.

With his victory, Sekito took home a winner’s purse of US$9,529.28 and received six Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points while the other top six players and ties earned points based on a sliding scale.

“I told myself in January, that my goal was to win on the ADT and get into the top-seven on the Order of Merit. Now that I have won I am really happy and I can’t wait to call my family and tell them,” added Sekito, who moved up to take the fifth spot on the ADT Order of Merit.

Two-time Asian Tour winner Chia was thrilled to rediscover his form with a new putter in the bag this week. He traded two bogeys against eight birdies to enjoy his first top-10 finish in two years since his joint runner-up result on the ADT in July of 2017.

“I’m very happy with how I played this week, it has been awhile since I have had a top-10 finish. It was an up-and-down round where I had a good run of birdies from holes three to seven but three-putted on hole eight for bogey.

“Overall I am putting well and this week was a confidence boost. I can see the changes since I switched my putter and I am playing more consistent golf,” added Chia, who won his fourth ADT title in 2016.

The leading seven players on the final ADT Order of Merit will earn playing rights on the premier Asian Tour for the 2020 season.

Leading final round scores:

271 – Naoki Sekito 70 69 64 68

272 – Danny Chia 70 70 66 66, Sam Gillis 70 67 67 68

274 – Trevor Simsby 67 71 67 69

275 – Amir Nazrin 65 75 66 69

277 – Nirun Sae-Ueng 67 69 72 69