TURIN, ITALY: Marin Cilic put Croatia into the lead in their Davis Cup by BNP Paribas first round tie and was pleased with the way he closed out the match making it a physical contest with Paolo Lorenzi in a 61 67(6) 46 63 62 victory.
Lorenzi, who was a late nomination for the singles with Fabio Fognini out with the flu, admitted that the occassion got to him at the start of the match with the crowd making him slightly emotional but that he was glad to get into his rhythm later in the match. He will now wait on the decision of his captain as to whether he has done enough to earn a second chance in the reverse singles on Sunday.
Andreas Seppi pulled Italy level and other than a "little blackout" at the start of the second set and a tough loss in the tiebreak to end the set he was pleased with his play and in particular mentioned staying calm even when broken while trying to serve out the match which allowed him to break straight back to seal victory 62 67(2) 64 64.