Croatia continued its surprising dominance of the United States Davis Cup team Sunday in Porec, Croatia, improving its record in ties against the Americans to 3-0. Not bad for a country with about the population of South Carolina.
Despite dropping the third set, Marin Cilic never looked out of command in his 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over James Blake. His movement was much better (no shock on clay), and his ability to hit casual winners at will was something Blake couldn't match despite clearly trying. Seeing Cilic win with ease makes me appreciate more what Mardy Fish did in hanging with the big Croat on Friday.
Cilic has been playing far better tennis of recent than Blake, so for Blake to beat him in Croatia on clay was too much to ask. Unlike beating Karlovic on clay, which was a personably doable assignment for Blake.
In fact, Blake actually exceeded expectations on Sunday by taking a set off Cilic. Because of the way he lost on Friday and the way he whined about the crowd afterwards, I didn't think he'd have a whole lot of fight left for Cilic. There probably isn't anyone with as much to prove on the US hard court swing as Blake, so hopefully winning three sets in Croatia gives him something of a boost.
Not that it means a whole lot, but kudos to Bob Bryan for winning his dead rubber in a third set tiebreak. It doesn't make a lot of sense for him to pursue singles at this stage in his career, but watching him play pretty solid tennis to beat Roko Karanusic makes me wonder what he could have achieved in singles had he kept at it.
I'll have more on what this loss means for the present and future of US Davis Cup tomorrow and who's to blame for this quarterfinal loss. Suffice it to say that there's plenty to go around.
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