Dan Evans battled past Adrian Mannarino to give Great Britain a 1-0 lead over France in their Davis Cup tie.
The British number two grew in confidence to beat Mannarino 7-5 6-4 in a high-quality Group C encounter in Innsbruck, Austria.
Cameron Norrie will attempt to give GB an unassailable 2-0 lead when he faces Arthur Rinderknech later on Saturday.
"There are so many emotions involved and I am just happy to come through and set it up for Cam," Evans said.
Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are set to represent Great Britain in the doubles against Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.