Great Britain crash out of Davis Cup as France reach the semi-finals

Murray and Inglot could not stop the rot (Picture: AFP/Getty)

Great Britain __have crashed out of the Davis Cup to a depleted France side after losing the first three rubbers of their quarter-final clash.

Leon Smith’s men were always up against it without world No. 1 Sir Andy Murray, as well as playing away in Rouen and, in truth, never really looked like causing an upset.

After Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans had lost in straight sets to world No. 17 Lucas Pouille and Jeremy Chardy on Friday, Jamie Murray and Dom Inglot went down 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 5-7 5-7 to Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut to end any faint hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

France v Great Britain quarter-final

Pouille bt Edmund 7-5 7-6 (8-6) 6-3
Chardy bt Evans 6-2 6-3 6-3
Benneteau/Mahut bt Murray/Inglot 7-6 (9-7) 5-7 7-5 7-5

Yannick Noah’s outfit are the first nation to qualify for the last four and did so without Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon.

The French are nine-time winners of the competition and last reached the final in 2014, losing to Switzerland.

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However, they are without a Davis Cup crown since 2001.

Belgium, Serbia and Australia look the favourites to join them, with the three nations leading Italy, Spain and the USA respectively at the time of writing.