Cilic, Croats Roll French for 2nd Davis Cup Win

Croatia won its second Davis Cup title on Sunday when Marin Cilic beat Lucas Pouille 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-3 in the first Sunday singles to clinch for the Croats 3-1.
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Pouille replaced Jeremy Chardy in the first singles on Sunday. Cilic was 6-0 in sets played over the weekend.

“It’s not every day that you become a world champion,” Cilic said.”For us it’s a dream come true. We are so passionate, you can see the fans are enjoying themselves. I feel that in Croatia it’s going to be incredible too. I thought Lucas started well in the first set and just a single point made the difference. After that I played better and served better. I’m extremely proud of my performance.

“The three matches Borna [Coric] and I played, we didn’t lose our serve once and that shows how well we played and the level we produced. We were both in great form at the right time.”

Cilic broke serve for the match, closing on his third match point.

“We lost to a better team,” French captain Yannick Noah said. “We did everything we could to be at this level with the Croatian team. We just went to their locker room to congratulate them. I think they’re beautiful winners and they deserve it.”

Coric in the first singles on Friday beat Jeremy Chardy in straight sets. In the second singles Cilic beat an injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.

France stayed in the match on Saturday when Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeated Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic of Croatia in four sets.

It was the fifth different Davis Cup champion in five years since the Czech Republic won consecutive years in 2012-13.