Davis Cup: 1-0 for Croatia - Gojo's win puts Djokovic under pressure
Borna Gojo gave Croatia a 1-0 lead in the first semifinals of the Davis Cup final tournament in Madrid. Gojo defeated Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 6-3 and 6-2. The pressure is now on Novak Djokovic , who has to win his singles against Marin Cilic and then also the doubles.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Dec 03, 2021, 06:12 pm
Borna Gojo, only ranked 279th in the world, got off to a dream start: after the 23-year-old Croat made up 0:30 in his first service game, he immediately took Lajovic's serve from him. And did not give up. Gojo took a lot of risk, took a 4-1 lead, Lajovic didn't really know how to get into the match. Gojo helped, made a few careless mistakes - and Lajovic won the first set with five games in a row.
In the second act it was again the outsider who gained an advantage early on. Lajovic was able to convert a 0: 3 into a 2: 3 with the re-break, but then immediately gave up his serve. And that with a double fault. This time Gojo, who scored an important point for his team in the quarter-finals in Turin on Monday with his success against Lorenzo Sonego, could not be deprived of the advantage. After an hour and a half, the match was completely even.
Djokovic with an outstanding record against Cilic
In the decision everything went in the direction of Borna Gojo, who initially missed his first match point when the score was 5: 2. But the Croatian used the second with a strong serve to make it 4: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 2.
In the second individual match, Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic meet. The world number one from Serbia is the clear favorite: Djokovic leads head-to-head against Cilic with 17 wins and only two defeats. If the decision is only made in doubles, then the Croatians must be considered favorites. After all, they are going into the race with Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the outstanding couple in 2021. Serbia is expected to counter with Novak Djokovic and Nikola Cacic.