France and Sweden faced off for their second Davis Cup title of the decade in one of the event's most dramatic finals.
Throughout the history of the Davis Cup, France and Sweden had established themselves as among the best to ever compete in the international team event.
In 1996, the two countries would meet in a final for the first time.
The French team advanced to the championship by rolling over Denmark and Germany in the first two rounds before being pushed to the brink by Italy in the semifinals. Sweden, meanwhile, only dropped two rubbers on its way to the final as it blasted past Belgium, India and the Czech Republic.
Sweden found added motivation in its charge toward the title as one of the greatest players in the history of the game was playing his final season. Stefan Edberg, who helped the Scandinavian country capture the title four times, most recently in 1994, was retiring after the tie.
The opening rubber on the indoor hard courts in Sweden saw Edberg go against France’s brilliant shotmaker Cedric Pioline. Edberg carried a 4-0 record against the Frenchman, but after suffering an ankle injury during the match, went down in straight sets, staking France to a 1-0 lead.
The next rubber saw Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist take on Arnaud Boetsch. Enqvist, who won two titles indoors in Stockholm and Paris only weeks earlier, continued his stellar play to fly past Boetsch and level the tie.
The doubles rubber went to France as Guy Forget and Guillaume Raoux beat the pairing of Nicklas Kulti and Jonas Bjorkman in four sets to give the visiting team a 2-1 lead.
What happened next was one of the most dramatic final Sundays in the history of the event.
In the first reverse singles match, Pioline raced to a two sets to none lead over Enqvist, before the Swede rallied to take the next two. In the third, Pioline held steady despite losing such a big lead and at 5-3, served for the championship. Enqvist broke serve and eventually came through with a 9-7 win in the fifth set to stave off elimination.
Edberg’s ankle injury forced him out of the deciding rubber and he was replaced by Kulti.
Watch highlights of the fifth rubber here.
The Swedish veteran lost the first set in a tiebreak, but he captured the next two to put Sweden a set away from the title.
The fourth set went to a tiebreak again, and like the first, went to Boetsch again. In the decider, neither player was able to make much headway on the other’s serve until Kulti garnered three match points on Boetsch’s serve at 6-7. Boetsch held and as Kulti began to struggle physically, earned a chance to clinch the tie at 9-8. The 27-year-old, who was on the 1991 championship team as a backup player, served it out, giving France the title.
0
Entering this tie, France had no singles players ranked in the top 20, while Sweden had two in Enqvist and Edberg.
2
This was the second tie in a row that France won the deciding rubber, with Boetsch playing the role of closer in both occasions. He beat Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy in straight sets in the semifinals.
50
Edberg’s loss against Pioline came in his 50th singles rubber. He retired with a 35-15 record.
Follow Van on Twitter: @Van_Sias