France and the Netherlands won doubles matches Sunday, earning spots in the finals of the Fed Cup in October.
The French, who eliminated Belgium, will be playing for the title for the first time after losing in the semifinals the last four years. The Dutch won the other semifinal at the Czech Republic.The latest victory comes a year after the French men's team defeated Sweden in the Davis Cup final.
"I feel very privileged," said Yannick Noah, the captain of the men's and women's teams. "And very lucky."
The Fed Cup championship will be in France on Oct. 4-5.
Nathalie Tauziat and Alexandra Fusai rallied from a set down to give France the clinching point in a 3-2 victory in Nice, France. They won eight straight games at one point to beat Dominique Van Roost and Els Callens 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Van Roost had beaten Fusai 6-3, 6-3, to set up the deciding doubles after Sandrine Testud downed Sabine Appelmans in the opening singles 6-2, 6-4. Van Roost and Fusai had an hour's rest before doubles.
At Prague, Miriam Oremans and Manon Bollegraf defeated Wimbledon finalist Jana Novotna and Eva Martincova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Earlier, Oremans defeated Adriana Gersi 1-6, 6-2, 9-7 to make it 2-2 after Novotna defeated Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
"It was very difficult, but we both played excellent tennis," Novotna said. "When her first serve turns out well, it's unreturnable."
Martina Hingis of Switzerland, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain and Anke Huber of Germany led their countries to victory in playoffs for World Group 1.
At Zurich, Hingis, playing her first tournament at home since claiming the No. 1 ranking, led Switzerland to a 5-0 sweep of Argentina. The Wimbledon and Australian Open champion crushed Argentina's Florencia Labat 6-2, 6-1.
Patty Schnyder routed Maria Jose Gaidano 6-1, 6-0 and then Hingis and Emmanuelle Gagliardi defeated Mercedes Paz and Laura Montalvo 6-3, 6-4.
At Frankfurt, Huber upset French Open champion Iva Majoli and then anchored a doubles victory to help Germany edge Croatia 3-2.
Huber teamed with Meike Babel to beat Majoli and Mirjana Lucic in the decisive doubles 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-1. The defeat dropped Croatia to World Group II.
With the German team weakened by the absence of Steffi Graf, who is recovering from knee surgery, Huber provided two key singles victories.
Spain defeated Australia 3-2 in a playoff at Gold Coast. It was 1-1 after Saturday's opening singles, but Vicario gave Spain a 2-1 lead when she defeated Annabel Ellwood 6-2, 6-0.
Maria Luisa Serna, who lost to Ellwood in her opening match, then secured Spain's victory with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Rachel McQuillan. Australia won the doubles.
At Brookline, Mass., the United States won a playoff to remain in Group I for next year with a sweep of Japan. The doubles team of Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond beat Naoko Kijimuta and Nana Miyagi 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the victory.
In the playoffs for World Group 2, Austria's Barbara Schett played crucial roles in singles and doubles to steer Austria to a 3-2 victory over South Africa. South Africa was relegated to regional qualifying next year.
Italy blanked Indonesia 5-0 in Jakarta and Slovakia did the same against Canada in Bratislava. Russia lost only the doubles against South Korea in Seoul, winning 4-1.