and Fusai and Tauziat won in doubles to complete their 4–1 win. This was the first Fed Cup title for France, and made them the seventh country to win Fed Cup. 1998–2003: continued success, second victory and No. 1 ranking The French entered 1998 as defending champions, and with plenty of depth in their team. Mary Pierce remained their No. 1 player, finishing 1997 as World No. 7, while Nathalie Tauziat and Sandrine Testud were at No. 11 and No. 13 respectively. In addition, Tauziat and Alexandra Fusai were on good form in doubles, reaching the final of the prestigious Chase Championships and ending the previous year as the World No. 13 and 14 respectively. For France's first tie of 1998 in April, France was drawn against Belgium again. Testud, Fusai and Tauziat all took part, but Pierce did not leaving Top 45 player Sarah Pitkowski to take her place. This team split the first two ties, as Testud defeated Sabine Appelmans, but Pitkowski fell to the Belgian No. 1 Dominique Van Roost. Van Roost then allowed Belgium to take the lead, beating Testud in two close sets, but Pitkowski fought back from one set down to beat Appelmans, and Fusai and Tauziat easily won the doubles rubber to take the tie. France has a difficult draw for her next tie, however, as the Swiss were accompanied by World No. 1 Martina Hingis and upcoming teenager Patty Schnyder, who had won five titles in the year. Despite the formidable opposition, captain Yannick Noah refused to allow Testud or Pierce, who had recently fallen out of the Top 10, to join the team due to an ankle injury and a poor attitude respectively. The team was thus led by the new French No. 1, World No. 10 and Wimbledon finalist Tauziat, with Julie Halard-Decugis, who was coming back from injury, and former junior world champion Amélie Mauresmo joining Fusai to make up the team. The tie ended up being a disaster for the French, as Hingis and Schnyder both defeated Halard-Decugis and Mauresmo each, despite the latter proving a surprisingly tough opponent and taking both her matches to three sets, before Emmanuelle Gagliardi and Schnyder teamed up to upset Fusai and Tauziat in doubles. Despite the poor result, Mauresmo's performance was lauded by her teammates. Noah stepped down as captain in September 1998, a move that upset the players, and was