sentences:  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.