Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens Send U.S Into Second Straight Fed Cup Final

Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens won their singles matches Sunday to give the U.S. a victory over France.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (AP) Madison Keys beat Pauline Parmentier of France 7-6 (4), 6-4 to send the United States into a second straight Fed Cup final on Sunday.

Keys' victory gave the defending champions an unassailable 3-1 lead over France.

The 13th-ranked Keys, a late replacement for CoCo Vandeweghe, came back from a 4-1 deficit in the first set and made the decisive break in the ninth game of the second set with two consecutive winners.

The U.S. plays the Czech Republic in the final.

Earlier, Sloane Stephens had given a 2-1 lead to the U.S. with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Kristina Mladenovic.

The U.S. Open champion delivered a ruthless display against the 20th-ranked Mladenovic and prevailed in 54 minutes. Stephens hit 16 winners and converted five of six break chances at the 6,700-capacity Arena Pays d'Aix on indoor clay.

''That was a really good one. You never anticipate a scoreline like the way it turned out but it was really solid,'' Stephens said.

Stephens also won her first singles match on Saturday.

The Americans extended their winning record to 12-2 against the French.

The Czech Republic qualified for the final by defeating Germany in Stuttgart.