Marin Cilic led Croatia to their second Davis Cup triumph after 2005 in the final against host France. The former US Open champion scored the decisive third point with a 7:6 (7:3), 6:3, 6:3 against Lucas Pouille in the third singles. The French had been able to reduce the doubles on Saturday to 1:2 once again, but Cilic brought the success of the guests confidently under roof.
After 2:19 hours, Cilic turned his third match point into a praise in the witch’s cauldron of Lille. After that, the cheers in the Croatian camp knew no bounds. There was pure joy. All team members stormed the field and buried Cilic under them.
“It’s an incredibly beautiful feeling,” said Cilic, wrapped in a Croatian flag when he was interviewed on the court: “It was a success for the whole team. It was also a satisfaction because we have such passionate fans.”
Cilic also defeated his 2016 demons in the final against Argentina in Zagreb, where he had the coup on the bat. In the third singles match against Juan Martin del Potro, the Croatian only needed one run to win the match thanks to a 2:0 set advantage, but Cilic lost the duel with “Delpo” 7:6, 6:2, 5:7, 4:6, 3:6. And because Ivo Karlovic lost to Federico Delbonis in the decisive match, many tears flowed in the Arena Zagreb – also at Cilic.
The world ranked seventh showed a very strong performance from the beginning on the sandcourt against Lucas Pouille (ATP-No. 32), who got the advantage over Jeremy Chary on Sunday. The extremely concentrated Cilic dominated the rallies – and allowed himself virtually no weaknesses in his own service. Symptomatic that he had to go only at the 4:2 in the second set over Einstand. The 1.98 m giant did not allow a break point during the entire season.
The preliminary decision was made when Cilic Pouille took the serve for his own 3-2 lead in set three. “His gaze shows how concentrated he is. Cilic follows his match plan very consistently,” said former Kerber and Asarenka coach Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh as co-commentator for DAZN.
And although Pouille was on a losing streak, the audience at the Stade Pierre Mauroy once again created that indescribable goose bump atmosphere that will no longer exist in the future and after the more than controversial reform. In the years 2019 and 2020 the final will take place in Madrid – with 18 teams (!) in Madrid. The radical treatment of the format had been harshly criticized by many sides, including the German Tennis Association (DTB).
The French could not prepare a happy ending for their team boss Yannick Noah. The French Open winner of 1983 is replaced by the two-time Grand Slam Champion mare Amelie Mauresmo. Noah had to do without Richard Gasquet (ATP no. 26), Gael Monfils (ATP no. 29) and Gilles Simon (ATP no. 30) in the final.
Chardy had lost against Borna Coric on Friday, before Cilic had not given the battered Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a chance in three sets. On Saturday, thanks to their world-class doubles Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, the French were able to shorten the time again.
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