Australia's chances of winning a 29th Davis Cup title were dealt a setback early in the 2021 finals when it lost its first round-robin match. Croatia defeated the Australian team 3-0 in Turin today.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” said Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt. “Not the way we would have liked to have started the campaign, but Croatia played extremely well in all three matches, to be honest.”
276th in the world Borna Gojo upset Australia's Alexei Popyrin in the first round, winning 7-6(5) 7-5 with eight aces. In the one-hour and 49-minute encounter, just one break was made, with Gojo breaking late in the game on his first break point opportunity. Popyrin, 22, on the other hand, was left regretting squandered possibilities. During the match, the world No.61 had five break point opportunities but failed to convert any of them.
“I would say this is probably the most painful loss I have had,” Popyrin said, “I had chances.” It's only the 23-year-old Gojo's second top-100 victory, and his first since 2017. “He’s a good player, and his ranking doesn’t really justify his level. I think he plays above his ranking,” Popyrin added.
Marin Cilic, the former world No. 3, then secured Croatia's championship by defeating Australian No. 1 Alex de Minaur 6-1 5-7 6-4. In the one-hour and 58-minute match, the 2014 US Open champion had too much firepower, striking 29 winners to De Minaur's nine. In the second set, De Minaur showed his fighting spirit by rallying from a 1-3 disadvantage. To reclaim the lead, the world No. 34 won three straight games, then broke the three-time Grand Slam finalist late in the set to tie the match.
“I managed to dig in, dig deep, find something out there to try to fight my way and claw my way back into the match,” De Minaur said.
Cilic, ranked No. 30 in the world, confidently handled the spirited challenge, rallying from a 0-2 deficit in the final set to take the next four games and reclaim control. Mate Pavic and Nikola