France on brink of Fed Cup victory

France is close to ending a 16-year Fed Cup drought after Kristina Mladenovic stunned Australia's Ashleigh Barty with a nerve-wrenching 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory on Sunday to give the visitors a 2-1 lead in the final.

World No.40 Mladenovic started slowly before taking advantage of an error-strewn Barty, whose 15-match Fed Cup winning streak was ended in a see-sawing match lasting two hours and 31 minutes.

Mladenovic failed to close out the match on serve in the 10th game of the deciding set before dominating world No.1 Barty in the tiebreak to produce arguably the best victory of her career.

France's Kristina Mladenovic lies on the court after winning her match against Australia's Ash Barty during their Fed Cup tennis final in Perth, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. (AP PhotoTrevor Collens)

"I lost the first set but I knew it was about details and I just kept believing because I felt I was out there fighting," a teary Mladenovic said after the match.

Pauline Parmentier will aim to clinch the title for France when she plays Ajla Tomljanovic who struggled in her Australian Fed Cup debut against Mladenovic on Saturday. Parmentier replaces former world No.4 Caroline Garcia who failed to win a game against the French Open champion Barty.

If the Australian prevails, the deciding doubles will likely pit Barty and Samantha Stosur against Mladenovic and Garcia.

France's Kristina Mladenovicin returns a shot against Australia's Ash Barty in their Fed Cup tennis final in Perth, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. (AP PhotoTrevor Collens)

Barty started where she left off against Garcia on Saturday, firing back-to-back aces to take the first game then broke Mladenovic's serve on her way to claiming the first set in 33 minutes.

But the French No.1, who thrashed Tomljanovic 6-1 6-1 in the first match on Saturday, fought her way back into the contest and took advantage of a series of unforced errors by Barty to force a deciding set.

An inspired Mladenovic grabbed a stranglehold of the third set with an early break and nearly repeated the dose in the fifth game. Barty, however, held serve and then broke back in the sixth game.

Australia's Ash Barty plays a shot to France's Kristina Mladenovic during their Fed Cup tennis final in Perth, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. (AP PhotoTrevor Collens)

The twists continued with Mladenovic unable to serve out the match after breaking in the ninth game before finally closing it out with a dominant tiebreak.

Australia hasn't won the Fed Cup, then known as the Federation Cup, since 1974 when Evonne Goolagong, Dianne Fromholtz and Janet Young defeated the United States 2-1 in Italy.

France last won the Fed Cup in 2003 and most recently made the final in 2016.

France's Kristina Mladenovic is hugged by teammates Alize Cornet, right, and Fiona Ferro after winning her match against Australia's Ash Barty during their Fed Cup tennis final in Perth, Australia, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. (AP PhotoTrevor Collens)

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MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Blowing late leads has become a hallmark of Manchester United's season.

Erik ten Hag hopes that changes when Liverpool comes to Old Trafford on Sunday. United is still clinging to hopes of a Champions League spot, despite a stunning 4-3 loss to Chelsea on Thursday night.

United first gave away the lead in the 10th minute of stoppage time at Stamford Bridge and then the game a minute later — both goals coming from Cole Palmer.

That followed a blown lead in a 1-1 draw at Brentford last Saturday. United had just recovered from celebrating Mason Mount's goal in the 96th when Kristoffer Ajer tied it three minutes later.

“We can beat the best teams in the Premier League,” Ten Hag said. “When you beat them in the Premier League, you can do it across Europe, but we need to learn how you win games ... how you bring games over the line and get the three points. We have to step up."

Dropping five points in the past two games is “very expensive,” he added.

“Games are running out. We know that and we have to catch up and we are now many points behind,” Ten Hag said. “It will be difficult. We will keep fighting.”

With eight games remaining, United is nine points behind fifth-place Tottenham and 11 points back of fourth-place Aston Villa. Because of a format change to the Champions League next season, the Premier League might get a fifth spot in Europe's elite club competition.

Blowing leads is not a new problem.

United exited the Champions League at the group stage — in last place. They gave away second-half leads in three of those games: a 3-2 home loss to Galatasaray; a 4-3 defeat at Copenhagen; and a 3-3 draw at Galatasaray.

The good news? United has actually closed out a big win recently — over Liverpool 4-3 after extra time in a thrilling FA Cup quarterfinal match. Marcus Rashford tied it at 3-3 before Amad Diallo's winner at Old Trafford.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp pointed to uncharacteristic errors that they'll need to avoid this time.

“We were really good that day but didn’t finish the situations off in extra time,” Klopp said. “We made mistakes we didn’t make before at all. We better play a really good football game to be honest, if we want something there.”

First-place Liverpool holds a two-point lead over Arsenal heading into the weekend.

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Manchester United's head coach Erik ten Hag gives instructions from the side line during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge in London, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Manchester United players react after referee award a penalty to Chelsea during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge in London, Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)