 Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 21 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 21 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 21 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 21 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 20 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 20 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 19 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 19 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Marcelo Ruschel
Date: 19 Sep 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 04 Dec 2005 |
|
| 22 Sep 2008 - Sportski Centar Visnjik, Zadar - Gorgan Gabrovec/Neven Berticevic | |
| Croatia confident about the future |
Almost three years have gone by but the memory is still there. Actually, it will never go away. Memories of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final against Slovak Republic in Bratislava, a final that went down to the wire...Ivan Ljubicic losing for the first and last time in 2005 Davis Cup action, losing in five sets to Dominik Hrbaty after winning the previous 11 all live rubbers…Mario Ancic beating Michal Mertinak in straight sets to win it all…
And now Croatia is back in the World Group. It was injuries and illness to the leading players (Ancic and Ljubicic), and lack of commitment from Ivo Karlovic, that put Croatia out of the World Group in a play-off match last year against Great Britain at Wimbledon.
“There is no doubt in my mind about our quality,” says Marin Cilic. “Croatia is good enough to beat anybody, even the best teams, and we have a team for all surfaces.”
A run of bad luck for Croatia
Croatian No. 2 Marin Cilic could not play against Brazil, but bad luck seems to come around at big moments for Croatia. Neither Ljubicic, Ancic or Karlovic could play in this summer’s Beijing Olympic Games, but Karlovic feels that Croatia can go high again as one of tennis’s strongest nations.
“I know it's going to be tough, especially repeating what Ljubicic did, winning 11 of 12 live rubbers in one year, but Croatia has five very good singles and doubles players, and we will try to go all the way once again.”
The first step was to beat Brazil. Croatia was the favourite, but as captain Prpic said, it was tough, and could have been much tougher.
“Davis Cup has once again showed that there are no easy matches or easy winners. The boys from Brazil played some great tennis at times, but we won almost all tiebreaks, which was almost deciding.”
Lots of winning tiebreaks
Croatia won both opening singles on Friday and that, almost, sealed the deal. It was by no means easy. Ancic gave Croatia the lead with a straight-sets victory against Thomaz Bellucci, but needed two tiebreaks and a big fight, failing to convert a 5-2 lead in the third set. Karlovic also won against Thiago Alves in straight sets and two tiebreaks.
"I'm glad to be back on the team,” said Karlovic, “and I’m delighted with the wins, they mean a lot for my self confidence.”
The Brazilians came back in the doubles, Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa, winning a tough five-setter against Karlovic and Lovro Zovko, who was a late substitute for Cilic, but it was difficut to expect a total comeback, especially when Karlovic serves like he did (39 aces) and he played his best Davis Cup match ever in his four-set win against talented left-hander Bellucci.
Croatia completed a 4-1 victory when Roko Karanusic came from 2-4 down in the third set and saved four match points in the 12th game against serve, to beat Alves 76(3) 46 76(5). Yes it was two more tiebreaks, two more for Croatia, and 10 out of 11 in three days.
Related Links on other websites
> Information from CTA
> Informação no português - CBT
Related Links on Daviscup.com
> Tie Information
> Scorecards and stats
> Audio interviews from Croatia v Brazil
> Croatia returns to the elite
> Brazil squeeze out victory
> Karlovic extends Croatia's advantage
> Ancic puts Croats in front
> Ancic replaces Cilic in Croatia
|
Español
