Croatia has reached their third Davis Cup final after Borna Coric clinched a marathon win over Frances Tiafoe in the decisive rubber of their country’s clash with America.
The tie was 2-2 heading into the final match after Sam Querrey stunned world No.6 Marin Cilic 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4, earlier on Sunday. In what was a battle of the young guns, Coric required more than four hours to prevail 6-7(0), 6-1, 6-7(11), 6-1, 6-3, in front of his home crowd. The roller-coaster performance saw the 21-year-old hit 53 winners to 96 unforced errors in what was his 16th match played in the competition.
“I felt phenomenal, set and a half, and then I relaxed a little too much at 5-1, and then (I had) a little panic.” Ćorić told Croatian media.
“It was unbelievable. This is the most special moment of my whole life…by far.” He later added.
On what was a day of celebration for Croatian tennis fans, former US Open champion Cilic admitted that he was frustrated with his own performance. He initially had a set and a break lead against Querrey before losing the match.
“It is difficult to look for reasons, but this is a bad day, I was nervous during the match, Querrey played very well in moments when I did not play the best.” He said during his press conference.
Coric’s triumph follows on from Croatia’s success earlier in the tie. On Friday both Coric and Cilic won their singles matches in straight sets to seal a 2-0 lead. Before America battled back to level 2-2 with wins by Ryan Harrison and Mike Bryan in the doubles as well as Querrey.
“Being twice in the final in the last three years is really an amazing result.” Captain Željko Krajan said about his team’s performance.
“I think we are really a super team, a real dream team.”
Sealing a place in their first Davis Cup final since 2016, Croatia will take on defending champions France in November. Who defeated Spain 3-2. The countries are currently tied at 1-1 in their head-to-head. Their last meeting was in 2016 when Croatia won 3-2 in the semifinal.
“It will be difficult in the final against France, they are one of the strongest teams, they have a really good team of players.” Cilic commented about the upcoming clash.
This year’s Davis Cup final will be held in France.
