Genoa - Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert cruised to a straight-sets victory in the doubles on Saturday to put France 2-1 up against Italy in their Davis Cup quarter-final.
The French pair beat Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 to leave the holders needing one point in the reverse singles on Sunday.
It took Mahut and Herbert just 1 hour 54 minutes to take revenge for a loss to the Italian tandem in the 2015 Australian Open doubles final.
Lucas Pouille (ranked 11th in the world) will have the chance to clinch a last-four place when he faces Fognini (ranked 20th) in the opening rubber on Sunday.
