France Tries To Retain Title Against Croatia

France will look to retain the Davis Cup title this weekend as Yannick Noah’s team takes on Croatia. If France lifts the trophy for the 11th time, the nation will become the sixth to retain the championship since the Challenge Round was eliminated in 1972. The last instance was in 2012-13, when the Czech Republic triumphed twice in a row.

It will be a tough task for the defending champions as Croatia is led by three players who were at The O2 for the prestigious Nitto ATP Finals. Marin Cilic competed at the season finale for the fourth time, Borna Coric was in London as an alternate and Mate Pavic was half of the top-seeded doubles team.

Cilic, who will play Friday’s second singles match against former World No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille, France, feels that his effort last week have helped prepare him for the challenge ahead.

“Just playing against top guys just maybe lifts your level a bit, focus-wise,” said Cilic, who leads Tsonga 5-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, in London. “Playing-wise, you have to play every single point on a high level. I feel that might help me.”

In Friday's first match, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy will face Coric, who has enjoyed the best season of his career. Coric, who won the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, is fresh off his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Chardy, the No. 40 player in the ATP Rankings, leads their series 3-2. The top-ranked Frenchman on the team in Lille, Lucas Pouille, was not chosen to compete on Friday.

France has plenty of doubles firepower with Nitto ATP Finals runners-up Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who will clash against Pavic and Ivan Dodig on Saturday. Herbert and Mahut captured this year's Roland Garros title and they were also victorious in Rotterdam. 

The home favourites will try to win their eighth tie in a row, which would match its second-longest winning streak. Croatia is attempting to win its second Davis Cup title in its third final. Two years ago, Croatia fell just short against Argentina when Juan Martin del Potro came from two sets to one down against Cilic to win the fourth rubber, allowing Federico Delbonis to defeat Ivo Karlovic in a live fifth rubber.

“We are expecting a great atmosphere obviously in Lille. It's going to be great. [The] French team always plays great at home. They're known for having great results in France, so it's going to be fun. It's going to be great to play, great excitement for both teams,” Cilic said at The O2. “We had a great season as a team. The French team also, Herbert-Mahut are playing great… They're going to be the rock of the team in doubles. For us, we have to play well, step it up, try to obviously give our best to win.”

Reverse singles ties will be played on Sunday.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2QcZXTz