But the Australians refused to buckle, saving four set points at 2-4 and a set point when Santoro was serving for the second set at 5-4. Santoro and Delaitre, who have won five doubles titles, looked unstoppable taking the first set in just 38 minutes and moving to a 4-2 second-set lead.
In the fourth game of the second set, the crowd was brought to its feet when Delaitre won a point with an instinctive volley played from behind his back. Both teams knew the importance of the match: since 1978 the winners of the doubles in the Davis Cup final have gone on to lift the trophy.
Initially the thunderous support that unnerved Grosjean on Friday served only to inspire the French, who raced to a 4-0 first-set lead, Santoro’s deft lob to break Woodbridge’s serve indicating their early dominance. Lleyton Hewitt faces Sebastien Grosjean in the final match.
Woodforde and Woodbridge used all their experience to claw back the match after the French pair were just one point away from taking a two-set lead.

Mark Philippoussis will win the trophy for Australia if he beats Cedric Pioline in the first of the reverse singles this afternoon. By Derrick Whyte in Nice

By Derrick Whyte in Nice

05 December 1999
Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge staged a spirited comeback to beat France’s Fabrice Santoro and Olivier Delaitre yesterday and take Australia to within one match of winning the Davis Cup.
Their 2-6 7-5 6-2 6-2 win in Nice silenced the French fans and gave Australia a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five final. I can honestly say that I heard no noise from the crowd, just the ball hitting the line, the line calls and my heart beating.”
“I got injured at Wimbledon this year and who knows if I could have gone on to win there. But I would take this for a Wimbledon win any time,” he said.
Australia, which eliminated Zimbabwe, the United States and Russia to reach its 44th Davis Cup final, went into the third day as firm favorite to win the match.
Only five teams have triumphed this century after trailing 2-1, most recently in 1964 when Fred Stolle and Roy Emerson won on the last day to give Australia victory against the United States.
Since 1978, every team that has won the doubles match has gone on to lift the fabled trophy.
Australia’s win is especially sweet for Newcombe.
The team nearly withdrew before its quarterfinal against the United States when organizers gave the Americans home advantage to celebrate the event’s centenary.. “He didn’t have highs and lows, just highs.”
After winning the final point Philippoussis was lifted high into the air by his teammates, as hundreds of Australians in the crowd began wild celebrations, waving banners and throwing inflatable kangaroos into the air.
The 30-year-old Pioline, perhaps sensing that his last chance of a Davis Cup win had gone, was in tears.
Australia had begun the day with a 2-1 lead after winning Saturday’s doubles clash.
Philippoussis looked especially nervous as the players came onto the court amidst a cauldron of noise from the 10,000 crowd, but it was Pioline who began more uneasily, double-faulting on break point in the first game to give the Aussies an early boost.
Philippoussis coupled his famed big serve with a series of powerful forehand groundstrokes that rattled Pioline, who double-faulted again on Philippoussis’ first set point to put Australia one set ahead.
Philippoussis missed a great chance to take the second set, wasting a set point when Pioline was serving at 4-5.
The Australian, stretching his six-feet-four-inch frame to reach a drop shot, put the ball well wide.
In the next game he seemed to lose patience, playing a wayward forehand when defending a break point.
When Pioline made it one set all, the French crowd hoped that their dreams of a win could come true.
But Philippoussis, after a pep talk from Newcombe, came out with all guns blazing, taking the third set in just 32 minutes.
The 1998 US Open finalist turned on the style in the fourth.
At 1-1, he blasted four powerful winners past a bemused Pioline, including one blistering forehand onto the line that had the Frenchman holding his head in his hands.
Philippoussis said it was the most important win of his career.
“This is the best moment of my life,” he said “I concentrated really well. Mark Philippoussis led Australia to Davis Cup glory on Sunday with a comprehensive 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win against French No 1 Cedric Pioline that gave his country an unassailable 3-1 lead in the centenary final held in Nice, France.

The win guaranteed Australia its 27th Davis Cup victory and its first since 1986.
The partisan French crowd had hoped that the match was turning when Pioline won the second set after saving a set point.
But the big-serving 23-year-old – who didn’t play any Davis Cup matches last year because of a dispute with team bosses – reacted brilliantly, cranking up his famed service and pummeling Pioline with a series of powerful forehands.
By the end, Philippoussis was in total command, firing 15 aces and winning in just two hours, 42 minutes.
“That was t match Mark has played with his head in his life,” said Australian captain John Newcombe, a four-time Davis Cup winner as a player.

Mark Philippoussis led Australia to Davis Cup glory on Sunday with a comprehensive 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win against French No 1 Cedric Pioline that gave his country an unassailable 3-1 lead in the centenary final held in Nice, France. If the clubs are paying the players more than England are, why would they want to play harder for England than for their clubs?”. “The key to the future here is who has the players under contract. In New Zealand, the union controls the players, not the clubs.

It will be a difficult game, but both teams have to win as it’s a big opportunity for three precious points.”
The result is vital to both clubs, but overall Brooke points to a higher purpose. “Will’s had a niggling calf problem for most of the season, but we’ve got to put pressure on him to front up. If all they think about or live for 24 hours a day is rugby, it’s bound to seem monotonous. That’s bound to affect the way they play.”
The former Auckland captain, who worked as a plumber, gas-fitter and property manager in New Zealand, is now back at his day job, focusing on today’s Allied Dunbar Premiership visit to Newcastle after a midweek session helping Cambridge prepare for Tuesday’s Varsity Match.
Once again, Will Carling, Brooke’s choice as captain, is posing problems. At the moment there’s not enough balance between normal life and rugby. At Harlequins, we give the players Wednesdays off either to go and earn some money in a part-time job or to continue their studies.
“Quite apart from anything else, we want them to be fresh and enthusiastic; not arriving for a match feeling tired At training I’m constantly trying to gee them up. Everyone is now obsessed with defence – it’s all about having a good front row, someone to catch the ball at line-outs and kick-offs, with the rest either loose forwards or backs ranged across the pitch.
“I sometimes wonder whether the game should think about becoming semi-professional.

The French can turn it on occasionally, as they proved against the All Blacks in the World Cup, but they can’t do it consistently. It’s good that English clubs are back in the European Cup and the games are on TV, but it’s still different in New Zealand or South Africa, where rugby is as popular as soccer is here.
“In the southern hemisphere every competition is a stepping stone, but here the fixtures are a mess. It’s 10 and a half months of chaos in which we chop and change from competition to competition.
“Not only would the players be better focused on doing one thing at a time, but also the public would have a clearer idea of what’s going on.
“Internationally, I fear the game may have gone backwards over the last two years. Even though that might cost money over a three-to-five-year period, it would save in the long run compared with spending millions on seasoned players.”
Not surprisingly, Brooke feels the English game continues to lag behind the southern hemisphere “There’s still a gap in playing standards.