Russian Tennis Federation defeats Croatia to capture first Davis Cup title since 2006

MADRID (AP) — Russia's 15-year wait for a Davis Cup title ended Sunday after another clutch performance by Daniil Medvedev.

Medvedev beat Marin Cilic 7-6 (7), 6-2 in the second singles match to give Russia an insurmountable 2-0 lead over Croatia in the final. It is Russia's third Davis Cup title, and first since 2006.

Andrey Rublev earlier had beaten Borna Gojo in straight sets to put the Russians ahead at the Madrid Arena.

Russia's other Davis Cup title was in 2002. Croatia also was seeking its third title after triumphs in 2005 and 2018.

Russia completed a sweep of team events after the women’s team won the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Prague last month. The last nation to do the double had been the Czech Republic in 2012.

The triumph also capped a special week for Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev, the longest-serving Davis Cup captain. He first captained in 1974, and appeared in his 100th match as captain in the semifinals against Germany.

The Russian team is officially being called RTF (Russian Tennis Federation) in the competition amid its ongoing doping suspension in international sport.

After a tight first set, No. 2 Medvedev broke serve twice in the second against the 30th-ranked Cilic to comfortably clinch his fifth consecutive straight-set victory at this year's Davis Cup.

Rublev had converted on his first match point to clinch a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Gojo, who arrived at the Davis Cup Finals as the 279th-ranked player but had won all his three matches.

It was the third consecutive victory for the fifth-ranked Rublev after a loss against Spain’s Feliciano López in the group stage.

Gojo had no break opportunities throughout the match against Rublev, who converted one of his eight to grab the first set and eventually clinch the win in the second-set tiebreaker.

Croatia got past Serbia and the top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, while Russia ousted Germany.

The Russians won a group that included defending champion Spain and Ecuador, then advanced past Sweden in the quarterfinals. Croatia won a group with Australia and Hungary, then defeated Italy in the last eight.

The International Tennis Federation and the Kosmos Tennis group that is behind the competition said that next year four cities will host the group stages, with another venue — likely Abu Dhabi — hosting the knockout rounds.

Madrid was the sole host of the competition over a seven-day period in 2019. This year, Innsbruck in Austria and Turin in Italy were added as hosts over an 11-day period. The event was not played in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.