No. 1 Doubles Defeats No. 1 Singles As Djokovic, Serbia Fall In Davis Cup SFs

Novak Djokovic’s hopes for another Davis Cup title went by the wayside Friday in Madrid as Serbia fell to Croatia 2-1 in a surprise semifinal upset.

Croatia set the tone in the opener when little-known Borna Gojo stunned Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Ranked No. 279, the 23-year-old Gojo pulled off his biggest career win coming from a set down against the world No. 33.

Djokovic level for Serbia, cruising past Marin Cilic in fine fashion 6-4, 6-2.

But in the doubles decider, the world No. 1 team of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic were too strong for Djokovic and Filip Krajinovic with a comprehensive 7-5, 6-1 win to send Croatia to the Sunday finale.

“Novak showed why he is the best player in the world but there are four people on the court in the doubles and we played an amazing match,” Mektic said.

“They served really well in the first set but we took advantage of their level dropping a little bit in the second.”

Tomorrow, the heavily favored Russian team takes on Germany for the right to play Croatia.