Russia beat Croatia to win third Davis Cup tennis title
Russia claimed a third Davis Cup title on Sunday after Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev won their singles matches to defeat Croatia.
Medvedev’s 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 victory over Marin Cilic came after Rublev prevailed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) over Borna Gojo, giving Russia an impregnable lead of 2 -0 in Madrid.
Croatia’s biggest chance would have been in the doubles with world number one pair Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, but they always needed a surprise in the singles to take the tie to the last rubber.
Instead, Medvedev and Rublev, ranked two and five in the world respectively, held their own for nine of the Russia power pair’s ten victories at the tournament.
Cilic and Gojo were far from overwhelmed and, with the support of Real Madrid’s Luka Modric in the crowd, rose to the occasion in a strong final that ultimately ended in two close tiebreaks.
Russia have not won the Davis Cup since 2006 and failed to reach a single quarter-final between 2011 and 2018.
But Medvedev and Rublev are the leaders of a new generation of talent who could enjoy repeated successes in the future, with Aslan Karatsev and Karen Khachanov also ranking in the top 30.
The men’s victory also completes a Russian double after the women’s team won the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague last month. The last country to do the double was the Czech Republic in 2012.
Croatia was no stranger to this stage, their third Davis Cup final in five years after their 2016 loss to Argentina and their 2018 win over France.
But Russia was a firm favorite and was always going to take something special from Cilic, the 33-year-old former US Open champion, or from Gojo, who is ranked 279 in the world.
Cilic had opportunities in the first set, including a break point on Medvedev’s second serve at 4-3, but an aggressive backhand hit the tape and he went into a tie-break instead.
They traded with Cilic up 4-2 after a Medvedev right hand deflected, but Medvedev won four of the next five points to create a set point on Cilic’s serve.
Cilic saved him with a valiant crush only to deliver a forehand that gave Medvedev a second chance, which he parried with a double fault.
However, a great serve in the middle gave Medvedev 8-7 and this time Cilic relented, a backhand that went awry to deliver the set.
With Cilic tired and Medvedev gaining confidence, the second set was more of a walk. Medvedev secured a break in the fourth game when Cilic’s right hand appeared kindly off the net rope before confirming victory with a second break when Cilic’s right hand fell short.
Rublev’s precision from the baseline had been decisive before, but Gojo pressed him hard, particularly in the second set, when the Croatian went ahead 5-4 in the tie-break.
However, Rublev delivered under pressure, throwing an excellent pass down the line before an inside-out forehand winner opened a match point, which he converted when a Gojo backhand went wide.
(AFP)
