“The Davis Cup was such a big thing for them but now week in, week out is the most important thing”. They proved to be minor inconveniences though and serve it out he did.
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The hopes of the holders had been on Evans, picked ahead of Kyle Edmund who lost his singles rubber on Friday, after Andy Murray hauled Britain level in the tie with a straight sets victory over Guido Pella in the first reverse singles on Sunday.
That feeling only grew among the 8,000 home fans as Evans won the first set impressively, but Mayer then simply took over with some magnificent serving.
In Zadar, Croatia, Cilic beat Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 in the first singles match on Sunday to clinch the tie for the hosts. The 27-year-old is still feeling his way back after a series of wrist injuries pushed him to the brink of retirement and Orsanic revealed that his marathon five hour battle with Murray on Friday had taken its toll on the 2009 US Open victor following a punishing summer schedule.
France’s Lucas Pouille then defeated Marin Draganja in the dead fifth rubber to make the winning score 3-2.
“We are still pinching ourselves, that’s how excited we are with the result”, Croatia captain Zelko Krajan said.
Gasquet, 17th in the world, was drafted in after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils pulled out with knee injuries.
It drew Britain level again after losing the opening round of singles matches to trail at the start of the weekend. “I played good forehands and good serves, that was key”. Very happy to finally get there.
“That is not something we could say to and we had to keep some cards close to our chest to keep Great Britain thinking about what we would do”. Croatia lost that one but it made no difference.
But, with the atmosphere having stepped up yet another notch, he did a lot more than that and raced to a 6-3 6-2 6-3 victory over an outclassed Pella.
In other ties, Canada beat Chile 3-0, Switzerland and Uzbekistan were 2-2, Russian Federation were 2-1 to the good over Kazakhstan in a rainhit tie while Germany were level 2-2 with Poland.
Russian Federation is also returning to the top level of the Davis Cup for the first time since 2012 after beating Kazakhstan 3-1.
The world number two, clearly exhausted after almost ten hours tennis in three days, forced the tie into a fifth and deciding match with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over Guido Pella. In Sydney, John Peers and Sam Groth earned a 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2) win and an unassailable 3-0 advantage for Australia against Slovakia.
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On Thursday GB will learn who they will meet in the next year’s first round of the World Group, which in 2017 will take place in February immediately after the Australian Open.
