Croatia enters Davis Cup quarterfinals as Coric crushes Shapovalov

OSIJEK - In a match of the two rising stars of tennis, 21-year-old Borna Coric proved too strong for 18-year-old Denis Shapovalov and beat him in just over two hours 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, leading the Croatian Davis Cup team to the quarterfinals.

"I played almost a perfect match. I had some great performances in the Davis Cup matches but I never felt so powerful, almost unbeatable," 21-year old Coric said after a huge celebration with teammates and Croatian fans in the fully packed Sports hall Gradski Vrt in Osijek.

Picking an indoor clay court proved to be a great decision from the Croatians with Borna Coric back in the team after one year absence from the Davis Cup ties.

"He proved to be more experienced on this surface but he also played unbelievable match. I was trying to stay close, put some pressure on him but he stayed tough throughout the whole match," 18-year old Shapovalov admitted.

Canadian captain Frank Dancevic said he thought that the match would have turned out a lot differently if the doubles match on Saturday had end with a win for his team.

"We were a hair away from winning that match. That changed the dynamic of the tie. Borna would have so much pressure keeping the tie live and he would play much different. He knew that if he ended up losing the match he would still have Cilic playing behind him. So he played super relaxed. He played (a) phenomenal match and the court was extremely slow today which suited his game. Denis tried many different things but Borna was on every ball and grinded him down," Dancevic said of the tie.

After a stressful Saturday, Croatian captain Zeljko Krajan had a very relaxing Sunday on the bench even though the place in the quarterfinals was on the line.

"There was enough stress for the whole tie in that doubles match. Borna has taken care of that. He played a fantastic match. It is unbelievable that he managed to leave his opponent without any chance on his serve for the whole three sets because this was a clay court match and Shapovalov is a very dangerous player," Krajan said.

At the beginning of April, Croatia will host Kazakhstan in the quarterfinal tie. If they go over that hurdle, the Croatians will again play at home in September, when they will host a winner of the tie between USA and Belgium.

With the same pack of players that Krajan have this year, Croatia beat both Belgium and the USA on their turf on the way to 2016 Davis Cup final, before losing to Argentina in a very dramatic fashion in Zagreb. With such a favorable draw, Croatian fans are starting to dream about the trophy.

"We just got to the quarterfinals so we can't think about the trophy. We could start to think about that possibility if we get to the semis. Yes, we are a dangerous team because we have great group of players but it's just too early to think about ourselves as favorites to win the trophy," Krajan said.