Borna Ćorić lost to Richard Gasquet 2-6, 6-7, 1-6 and Marin Čilić beat Lucas Pouille 6-1, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2
Croatia and France started their Davis Cup semi-final match on September 16. 2016 in Zadar. The first couple of players to hit the court at the Krešimir Ćosić Hall were French number one Richard Gasquet and Croatian youngster Borna Ćorić. The best two French players, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired from the team due to the injuries, but even Gasquet was too strong for Ćorić, who is also just recovered from the knee injury he suffered at the US Open.
Gasquet went on to win in straight sets, and it was down to Croatian number one, Marin Čilić to level the score. He performed well, and won his match against Lucas Pouille, ranked 18th on the ATP list in four sets.
After the match, Čilić said: “I felt the intensity of the match, especially in the first two sets. Lucas wasn’t too bad in the opening two sets, but I managed to push him back and felt I was hitting my ground strokes well from the baseline.”
“But the moment I lost a little bit of focus was there in the third set, and I had to work hard to stay in control of the match. I had to get my rhythm back at the beginning of the fourth set and getting that break early on was crucial.”
The doubles match is scheduled today, it is expected that French coach, Yannick Noah will choose his doubles specialists Mahut and Herbert, but for Croatian coach Krajan, it is not that simple.
The first choice will surely be Ivan Dodig, one of the best doubles players in the world, but Krajan has to choose will he team up Čilić with him, or have faith in Marin Draganja.
Čilić had something to say about it yesterday: “Tomorrow morning we will decide if I am going to play in the doubles or not. I feel well, I am not overly exhausted. It was great to see French fans arrive in numbers, and good spirit, their cheering contest with our fans was fascinating, and I hope the home crowd will keep up their passionate support throughout the weekend.”
