Madrid, Dec 6: Russia’s 15-year wait for a Davis Cup title ended after another clutch performance from Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev capped his amazing year with a 7-6 (7), 6-2 win over Marin Cilic in the second singles match to give Russia an insurmountable 2-0 lead over Croatia and its first Davis Cup title since 2006. “It feels amazing,” Medvedev said.
It was the fifth consecutive straight-set victory in the Davis Cup for the No. 2 Medvedev, who three months ago defeated Novak Djokovic to win the U.S. Open for his first Grand Slam title.
Andrey Rublev earlier had beaten Borna Gojo in straight sets to put the Russians ahead at the Madrid Arena.
Russia’s other Davis Cup title was in 2002. Croatia also was seeking its third title after triumphs in 2005 and 2018.
The doubles, where Croatia has the top-ranked pair, were not played. Russia, had four top-30 players on its team.
The last nation to do the double had been the Czech Republic in 2012. The Russian team is officially being called RTF (Russian Tennis Federation) in the competition amid its ongoing doping suspension in international sport.
After a tight first set, Medvedev broke serve twice in the second against the 30th-ranked Cilic to comfortably clinch the victory.
Rublev had converted on his first match point to clinch a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Gojo, who arrived at the Davis Cup Finals as the 279th-ranked player but had won all his three matches.
It was the third consecutive victory for the fifth-ranked Rublev after a loss against Spain’s Feliciano López in the group stage.
Gojo had no break opportunities throughout the match against Rublev, who converted one of his eight to grab the first set and eventually clinch the win in the second-set tiebreaker.
Croatia got past Serbia and the top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, while Russia ousted Germany.
The Russians managed to win a group that included defending champion Spain and Ecuador, then advanced past Sweden in the quarterfinals. (AP)
