began evenly, with Pierce and the South African No. 1 Amanda Coetzer gaining wins. but Coetzer gained an upset by beating Pierce in straight sets in the third rubber. Halard, however, saved the team's fortunes by winning in singles and doubles with Tauziat. The same team competed against the United States, and similar initial results followed. A defeat and a win of the part of Halard and Pierce respectively tied the first two rubbers, but a loss by Pierce at the hands of Lindsay Davenport set up an eventual defeat as Halard and Tauziat failed to beat experienced doubles players Gigi Fernández and Davenport in the final rubber, in spite of a singles win by Halard over an injured Mary Joe Fernández. In 1996, the newly married Julie Halard-Decugis was having the best season start of her career, winning her fifth WTA tournament in Hobart and following up with her first Tier II victory in Paris. In addition, Halard-Decugis and Tauziat were performing well in doubles, reaching the final of Paris and the Tier I tournament at Indian Wells. This allowed the French to perform in their Fed Cup tie against Argentina, despite Pierce, who was having a terrible start to the year due to injury, not being present; Halard-Decugis defeated Florencia Labat and Paola Suárez in singles, and Patricia Tarabini and Labat in doubles with Tauziat, despite a poor singles tournament from Tauziat. This allow France to progress to its fourth consecutive semifinals, where they were drawn to play Spain for the fifth time. Pierce returned to play in the tie in Bayonne, and they started fairly well as the former Australian Open champion won over French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in singles, despite Halard-Decugis losing to Spanish No. 1 Conchita Martínez. However, although Halard-Decugis also managed to defeat Sánchez Vicario in singles, Martínez managed to win her second singles match over Pierce and Halard-Decugis was forced to retire in the doubles rubber whilst, 4–6, 1–2, with a right wrist injury. Dürr departed from the captaincy for 1997; 1983 French Open winner and former Davis Cup captain Yannick Noah took over. In addition, Fusai returned to the team with Pierce, who reach the final of the Australian Open again, and Tauziat, while seventeen-year-old Top 40 player Anne-Gaëlle Sidot made her debut. The team faced its first match against Japan, a tie they were expected to win