ITF

14 ITFWorld // WINTER 2018 Victory evoked memories of Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic and them almost single-handedly steering Croatia to success 13 years previously, although this was very much a success for the modern-day vintage. Cilic made his tournament debut the year after that triumph over Slovakia in Bratislava, and in the intervening campaigns has competed in more ties and chalked up a greater number of wins than any other Croatian player in Davis Cup history. Following a stellar season in which the 30-year-old hit a career-high of world No. 3, having reached the Australian Open final in January and the last eight of two other Grand Slams, it seemed fitting that he struck the critical blow. He was subsequently mobbed by his team-mates. Rewind 12 months and it was Pouille who was the recipient of adulation and plaudits as he kept his nerve to douse the threat of Belgium's Steve Darcis in the 2017 final as France were crowned Davis Cup champions for the 10th time. Cilic proved relentless, however, and did not offer Pouille a single break point during the clash, and despite a close first set, the Medjugorje-born right-hander collected the final four points of the tiebreak to seize the initiative. The final two sets proved more of a formality as Cilic snuffed out any hope of a famous French fightback; not since Australia in 1939 have a side recovered from a 2-0 deficit in the final to lift the trophy. Those arrears stemmed from the hugely-talented Borna Coric and then Cilic winning their opening singles matches against world No. 40 Jeremy Chardy and the injury-hit Jo-Wilfried Tsonga respectively. The fact that Chardy and indeed Tsonga, who underwent knee surgery in April and was ranked No. 259 in the world, were selected ahead of Pouille – the highest- ranked player available to France captain Yannick Noah – to contest the opening singles rubbers came as a surprise. Cilic comfortably dismantled Tsonga, who required a medical timeout in the third set and failed to convert any of his five break-point chances, 63 75 64. Tsonga revealed that he had defied medical orders to continue playing. "It was not conceivable for me [to retire], the match was underway," said the 33-year-old. "There were 25,000 people in the stadium and there were many more in front of their televisions watching us. For me, the least thing to do was to lose but with your head up." World No. 12 Coric, meanwhile, had earlier D AV I S C U P B Y B N P PA R I B A S ABOVE: Lucas Pouille's feelings in November were far different to those he experienced in the 2017 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final The 2018 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final brought down the curtain on Yannick Noah's third spell as France captain Croatia made the perfect start as Borna Coric defeated France's Jeremy Chardy in the opening rubber

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