Croatia defeat hosts Spain to set up Davis Cup semi-final against Australia

Coric
fought
hard
to
beat
Robert
Bautista
Agut
6-4
7-6
(7-4)
in
the
first
contest
on
Wednesday
(November
23)
in
Malaga.

In
a
match
that
lasted
just
shy
of
two
hours,
Coric
hit
12
aces
on
his
way
to
tying
Mario
Ancic
for
fourth
place
in
Croatia’s
all-time
leaders
in
the
Davis
Cup
with
his
13th
singles
win.

“I
didn’t
know
that
fact
to
be
honest,”
the
26-year-old
said
on
court.
“It’s
a
very
nice
fact,
Mario
is
a
legend
of
Croatian
tennis
and
obviously
it
does
mean
a
lot
to
me
that
I
am
there
with
him.”

His
experienced
team-mate
Cilic
had
a
harder
time
of
things,
needing
to
come
back
from
a
set
down
to
overcome
Pablo
Carreno
Busta
5-7
6-4
7-6
(7-5)
in
a
thriller.

Like
Coric,
Cilic
relied
heavily
on
aces,
smashing
20
through
the
contest,
but
he
was
made
to
sweat
by
Carreno
Busta,
who
took
the
first
set.

Cilic
fought
back
to
win
the
second,
and
was
a
break
ahead
in
the
third
before
his
Spanish
opponent
broke
back
and
looked
set
to
take
the
tie
to
a
rubber
clash
in
the
doubles.

The
decider
went
to
a
tie-break
though,
with
Cilic
coming
back
from
4-1
down
to
seal
victory
for
his
country
in
front
of
a
disappointed
Spanish
crowd.

Croatia
will
now
face
Australia
on
Friday
after
they
defeated
the
Netherlands
2-0
on
Tuesday
(November
22)
thanks
to
wins
for
Jordan
Thompson
and
Alex
De
Minaur.

What.
A.
Match
????@cilic_marin
secures
a
remarkable
5-7
6-3
7-6(5)
victory
to
move
Croatia
into
the
semi-finals
????#DavisCup
#byRakuten
#Final8
|

@hts_sluzbeni
pic.twitter.com/1V6wmlEBSB

—
Davis
Cup
(@DavisCup)

November
23,
2022