France returned to success, mainly due to the return of Benedetti to the team. In the first round, they gained revenge by defeating the Netherlands, with Benedetti defeating Schaar in three sets, and then went on to beat Austria to progress through to their eleventh quarterfinals. Although they soundly lost to the United States in their next match, the team's good results continued through 1975. Rosy Darmon returned to the team, and with her, France was able to easily beat Bulgaria and defeat Hungary despite losing a singles rubber to six-time Hungarian women's tennis champion Éva Szabó. This allowed them to once again play in their quarterfinals, where they achieved one of their best wins by defeating 1967, 1971 and 1972 finalists and many-time semifinalists Great Britain, with Fuchs managing to stun 1976 French Open champion Sue Barker in three sets and Benedetti and Darmon teaming up to defeat Glynis Coles and multiple Grand Slam doubles winner Virginia Wade in doubles. This allowed the team to reach their fourth semifinal, and become just the fifth team since initiation to reach four semifinals. Although they lost in their next round to Czechoslovakia, whose team was composed of future Grand Slam finalist Renáta Tomanová and the renowned Martina Navratilova, their performance would end up being one of the best for years. 1976 saw a sharp downturn for the team. Kermina left the captaincy for a second time, to be replaced by Philippe Duxin, and although the same team from 1975 was competing, they suffered their second first round defeat, only winning an average of four games per rubber at the hands of British players Barker and Wade. This led to the French playing in the consolation rounds once again. They initially suffered to a terrible draw with the Czechoslovaks in the first round, but gained a bye after the Eastern European team withdrew amidst the tense political situation of the time. They faced little resistance from Rhodesia or Brazil to pass through to the consolation final, but they eventually fell to Romanian multiple Grand Slam finalists Florența Mihai and Virginia Ruzici. The team's performance picked up again slightly for the next three years. Kermina and Dürr returned to the team while part-time French No. 1 Frédérique Thibault made her debut with 1978 French Open semifinalist Brigitte Simon-Glinel in 1977. The team made an excellent start to the tournament, defeating Luxembourg and Greece