After years of arduous wait and four thwarted finals, Argentina finally won its first Davis Cup title, defeating Croatia 3-2 in the final in Zagreb on Sunday.
Trailing Croatia 1-2, after Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer lost the doubles rubber to the Croatian team of Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3, Argentina faced an uphill task on the final day. In the first reverse singles rubber, in the clash between two former US Open champions, Juan Martin del Potro staged an epic comeback from two sets down against Marin Cilic to send the tie into the decisive rubber. Del Potro’s 6-7, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 win in four hours 53 minutes went on to inspire his teammate Federico Delbonis, who had been defeated by Cilic in the fifth set in their singles rubber on Friday.
In the last rubber between Delbonis and Ivo Karlovic, the Argentine kept his cool to win in straight sets against the tricky Croat 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and nine minutes.
With its win, Argentina became the only third country to win the Davis Cup title after being down 1-2. Since the current 16-team World Group format was instituted in 1981, only Russia and Serbia successfully overcame their deficits to claim the coveted title. Incidentally, the losing team on both occasions was France, which lost the title to Russia in 2002 and then to Serbia in 2010, despite holding the lead.
