Croatia have reached the Davis Cup final after Borna Coric hammer Frances Tiafoe to secure a 3-2 victory over the United States.
Borna Coric kept his calm to prevail in a thrilling winner-takes-all
duel with member young gun Frances Tiafoe and steer Croatia into the final of
the Davis Cup with a stunning 3-2 victory over the United States.
The 21-year-old Coric came from 2 sets to 1 down to defeat the
20-year-old debutant Tiafoe 6-7 (7-0) 6-1 6-7 (13-11) 6-1 6-3 and finally
subdue a remarkable fightback from the Americans, who had earlier leveled the
tie 2-2 from 2 down.
Late understudy Sam Querrey had rewarded captain Jim Courier's
gamble by taking the tie into a decider in the fourth rubber, battling back
from two sets behind to beat home talisman Marin Cilic 6-7 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) 6-3
6-4.
Yet with all resting on the first duel between 2 of tennis's
brightest young stars Coric overcame the loss of 2 extremely contrasting tiebreak’s
to book Croatia's progression.
After Coric had capitulated 7-0 in the first-set breaker and
13-11 in the third set decider, home fans feared Croatia could be on the incorrect
end of one of the competition's unlikeliest comebacks.
Coric, though, held his nerve alongside the equally brilliant
young American and lastly prevailed after 4 hours 6 minutes.
At 2-0 down after Friday's singles, there had not seemed the
remotest possibility of a US team without their top 2 players John Isner and
Jack Sock recovering to reach a first final in 11 years.
Only when 40-year-old Mike Bryan and Ryan Harrison clawed out a
five-set doubles win on Saturday, were the Americans given even pale hope.
But Courier was rewarded for resting his No.1 Steve Johnson and
instead threw Querrey into the must-win fourth rubber even though the
30-year-old had never previously beaten Cilic in 6 attempts.
World No.6 Cilic was found wanting when, after winning the
opening set on a tiebreak, he stood on the verge of a commanding lead.
He took a 6-1 lead in the 2 set tiebreak in superb fashion just
to crumble under Querrey's onslaught with the American world No.61 winning
seven straight points.
Cilic's early dominance then evaporated as Querrey took the next
two sets to win in 3 hours and 8 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.