France go with Tsonga & Chardy in Davis Cup final singles

Paris: France captain Yannick Noah sprang a surprise at Thursday's Davis Cup final draw ceremony when he named Jeremy Chardy and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as his singles players for the opening day's action in Lille.

Already without the likes of Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils for the final against Croatia, Noah decided to leave out Lucas Pouille, the top-ranked player in his squad. World number 40 Chardy will open the tie on Friday against Croatia's Borna Coric with Tsonga then taking on Marin Cilic.

Cilic and Coric are ranked seventh and 12th respectively, making captain Zeljko Krajan's decision on his singles players a straightforward one. "I'm a little surprised Jeremy (Chardy) plays," Cilic said at the draw ceremony, "I was expecting Lucas and Jo. They will have the opportunity to change on Sunday probably with Lucas entering in the place of Jeremy."

Tsonga, 259th in the ATP rankings, missed seven months of the year because of knee surgery and has played only 11 singles matches this year on the Tour. He lost in the first round in his most recent tournaments, in Vienna and Paris. Leaving out the 32nd-ranked Pouille is a potential gamble although the 33-year-old Tsonga, a former world number five, has a fine pedigree and a big-match character. He also played in last year's final when France beat Belgium. He has lost five of his seven matches against Cilic, although they have played only once since 2015 and Tsonga won their last clash, nearly two years ago in Rotterdam. Chardy, 31, has impressed Noah during practise and his 2-1 head-to-head record over Coric may have been a factor in his decision. He is 2-3 against Cilic.

Saturday's doubles will

see home pair Nicolas Mahut and Pierre Hugues-Herbert take on Mate Pavic and

Ivan Dodig.