[ad_1]
Croatia became the first team to reach the Davis Cup semi-finals after beating Italy 2-1 on Monday.
With the singles squared, Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic’s doubles team had no trouble beating Fabio Fognini and Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4 in the deciding match.
Sinner replaced Simone Bolelli after winning her single, which took almost three hours. But he and Fognini couldn’t get a break point against Pavic and Mektic, winners of Wimbledon and the Olympics this year.
Croatia, double champion, awaits Serbia or Kazakhstan. Their quarter-final will take place in Madrid on Wednesday.
Borna Gojo staged Croatia’s victory by surprisingly winning the opener against Lorenzo Sonego 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-2.
Gojo, who is 252 places below Sonego, 27th, reversed a 4-1 deficit in the first set to force the tiebreaker. Sonego rallied in the second set but continued to make mistakes in the third, including losing three break points in the seventh game.
“I knew the third set was one or the other’s game – one set, anything can happen,” Gojo said. “It was a very difficult game at 4-2 and I managed to hold on. So, yes, I am really happy.
Sinner equalized the score by beating former US Open champion Marin Čilić 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Ranked No.10 in the world, he did passionate home support in Turin, even encouraging fans on several occasions to cheer even louder.
“It’s an amazing feeling, of course I have no voice left,” Sinner said with a laugh.
The other quarter-finals this week are: Great Britain against Germany on Tuesday in Innsbruck, and the Russian team against Sweden on Thursday in Madrid.
___
More from AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
[ad_2]
Source link
Comments are closed.