(Reuters) -France were eliminated as a potential America's Cup challenger on Monday, losing their dream of competing for the coveted trophy, while Britain chalked up key wins to top the round-robin series leaderboard in light winds off Barcelona.
As the leaders, Ben Ainslie's British team get to choose their opponents for the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
"To be honest, we weren't really expecting that," Ainslie said after beating the Italian team in a sail-off, while declining to say who they would pick to race now.
"Big credit to the team ... all the work has paid off. I think we've got a quick package so we've just got to keep that ball rolling," Ainslie said on the America's Cup TV broadcast.
Five potential challengers for the America's Cup -- Britain, France, Italy, the United States and Switzerland -- have been battling in the double round-robin stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup in often volatile sailing conditions on the Mediterranean.
Britain earlier put France out of the competition with a convincing win over the late entrants as Cup challengers.
"We fought really hard, but it was not enough," Quentin Delapierre said of the French crew's performance, adding "what the team has achieved is really unbelievable".
With the exit of the French team, who despite some robust racing only chalked up one series win, the four surviving teams will go into a semi-final round for a place in the final, which will decide who challenges defenders New Zealand in October.
All four are aiming to get a tilt at the oldest international sporting trophy, known as the 'Auld Mug', which was first won off the south coast of England in 1851.
America's Cup campaigns now cost tens of millions of dollars and are fought out in state-of-the-art 'foiling' AC75 boats in what some equate to Formula One for sailing.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
