LIEGE, BELGIUM: Inevitably, there was
something of an anticlimax about this victory by Croatia over Belgium in
the fifth and final rubber of their World Group first round tie, which
meant that last season’s runners-up had fallen at the first attempt in
this year’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas competition.
That isn’t meant to detract from the quality of the fifth rubber
between two excellent young players – Borna Coric, of Croatia, and
Kimmer Coppejans, of Belgium – it was just that David Goffin’s Herculean
efforts here this weekend and the epic nature of his two singles
victories, against Coric on Friday and Marin Cilic on Sunday, somehow
deserved a more fitting reward for the team other than just personal
glory.
Coric, although three years younger than Coppejans at just 19, is
playing at a much higher level than his opponent and after a close first
set it became increasingly obvious. He is a remarkably steady player,
as Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, just two of his victims in the last
year and a half, will testify. The responsibility of giving Zeljko
Krajan’s team victory seemed to sit very lightly on his shoulders -
which is a reflection on his maturity - as he won 76(5) 62 62.
Croatia were worthy winners and if they can summon a similarly strong
side in the future rounds of this competition they will take some
stopping.
In fact, with an away tie – for the sixth consecutive time – to come
against United States in the quarterfinals it is beginning to look like
2005 all over again. In that year Croatia had to pull off an improbable
victory then against a USA team consisting of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick
and the Bryan brothers. The size of Croatia’s task this time is not
quite so forbidding.
Getting back to this tie Johan Van Herck’s men can take great heart
from their performances against a team who with the exception of Great
Britain was stronger than any that they met on their journey to last
year’s final.
The sporting cliché about a player not deserving to finish on the
losing side was never more apposite than in the case of Goffin, who gave
his all this weekend in the cause of his nation. Who needs rest? Well,
Goffin does now after his incredibly strenuous efforts of the past three
days.
The Belgian No. 1 made a mockery of the idea that he would be too
exhausted to beat Cilic when he dug deep once more in this tie to beat
the world No 12 64 64 36 75 and pull Belgium level at 2-2.
After his emotionally draining, if victorious, five-setter against
Coric on Friday, Goffin looked jaded and error-prone in Saturday’s
doubles, but a new day brought a new Goffin.
The world No. 16 won the first two sets with such ridiculous ease we
wondered whether he would win without breaking sweat. We should have
known better. Goffin prefers to do it the hard way.
By contributing three double faults in the sixth game of the third
set he not only lost his serve for the first time since the start of the
match but also gave Cilic hope where before there was none.
Cilic raised his game, which couldn’t have been much lower, and made a
real fight of it. He was in contention right up until the finish when
with match point against him he served a double fault. He didn’t deserve
to finish like that.
The decision to give Cilic the day off on Saturday looked a wise one
when Croatia won the doubles in straight sets, but while they may not
have needed him Cilic may have needed the workout. He is not a natural
clay court player and perhaps the more practice he got on this surface
at the Country Hall du Sart-Tilman the better for him. For someone who
has reached the fourth round of the French Open on three occasions he
looked surprisingly ill at ease on it in those opening two sets.
Goffin, on the other hand, looked wonderfully at home and if he ever
wins a Grand Slam it may well be on clay. It’s equally surprising that
he has never been beyond the third round at Roland Garros.
He was demonstrably the better player in the first two sets in just
about every facet of the game, occasionally even audaciously lobbing his
6ft 6in opponent. That triple double fault contribution, however, did
wonderful things for Cilic’s confidence while bringing a slightly
nervous edge to Goffin’s game.
Surprisingly, it was the first time these two have played each other
and while no doubt Cilic will want his revenge at some time he certainly
will not want to meet Goffin again on clay. The Croatian’s biggest
weapon, his serve, wasn’t working at all well, but worse still his
second serve was regularly being punished. At one stage in the first set
he was winning less than 30 per cent of points on it.
But the big man bravely made a stand at the start of the third set,
fending off three break points and five deuces in the opening game. He
started to hit the ball more confidently and significantly eradicated
the errors in his game.
Of course, the greater credit, though, has to go to Goffin for coming
back the way he did in the fourth set just as he did in the fifth set
of his match against Coric. He may have an angelic face but he’s a hell
of a fighter.
Source: DavisCup.com
Tomas Berdych survived a late comeback from Borna Coric on Monday
evening at the BNP Paribas Open to book his spot in the fourth round
with a 6-1, 7-6(3) victory.
