the first occasion they had achieved such success since 1979, with wins over Canada and Sweden due to the singles and doubles prowess of Halard and Tauziat. The team then went one step further, finally reaching their first semifinal since 1975 by upsetting the Czech Republic. Halard defeated World No. 12 and multiple Grand Slam finalist Helena Suková in the first tie, before Tauziat beat World No. 8 and 1993 Wimbledon runner-up Jana Novotná in a match in which the Czech served numerous double faults. France's streak ended, once again, at the hands of the Spaniards, who, for the past three years, had a 93% win–loss record. Paradis-Magnon left tennis at the end of the year, but Pierce, who reached the final of the 1994 French Open, returned for 1994, and Alexandra Fusai made her Cup debut. This team allowed the recent success to continue, as they beat South Korea and Italy, with only Halard dropping a set to Silvia Farina. They then played Bulgaria in a very tight tie that involved Halard defeating Katerina Maleeva in three sets, but Pierce losing to the sister Magdalena Maleeva in an extremely close two-and-a-half-hour match. Halard and Tauziat ended the tie with a victory, however, defeating the Maleeva sisters in doubles also in three sets, delivering France to its first consecutive semifinal since 1965. They continued to fail to reach any further though, as the United States managed to win over them; No. 11 Mary Joe Fernández beating Halard easily and No. 6 Lindsay Davenport beating Pierce despite losing the first set with many errors including four-foot faults. In 1995, the format of the competition was revamped to try and mirror the success that the Davis Cup had with theirs, and to provide the nations more opportunities to play in their own countries. This meant that France, because of their good recent results, participated in and was seeded for the 1995 World Group. Because of the nature of the revamp, countries playing in any level above zonal competition would be playing in five-rubber ties, the first four of which would be singles. France first tie of 1995 was against South Africa and held in Metz on red clay. The French team was accompanied again by Halard, Tauziat, and Pierce who at the 1995 Australian Open became the first Frenchwoman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title. The tie