BAIE-MAHAULT, Guadeloupe (AP) Gael Monfils eased past Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 Friday to give France a 1-0 lead over Canada in their Davis Cup first-round tie as Yannick Noah got off to a successful start as team captain.
Monfils needed just 85 minutes to dispatch the 245th-ranked Dancevic on the clay court of the 8,000-seat Velodrome Amedee Detraux, the biggest stadium in Guadeloupe.
France is playing a Davis Cup tie in the French Caribbean islands for the first time after Noah convinced the French federation to stage the contest away from the mainland.
The second singles match pitted Gilles Simon against Vasek Pospisil.
Canada is without its injured top player Milos Raonic, and also missing doubles specialist Daniel Nestor who didn't travel because of an unspecified family matter.
