OSIJEK, Feb. 3 -- Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig used all their experience and fighting spirit to beat Canadian Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil in five sets 2-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2, after being down two sets and 1-4 in the third, to put Croatia one step away from the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup.
Croatian captain Zeljko Krajan who celebrated his 39th birthday on Saturday thanked Cilic and Dodig for the best birthday present after giving his team a 2-1 overall lead in the World Group first round.
"When you are in this business you can't get a nicer present that going through all the different emotions and phases of a tennis match. This was the best possible present," Krajan said after the greatest comeback win during his career as Croatian captain.
"I believe that we would be very hard to beat if we would play more often as a team but I know that this is not possible because Marin and I have different priorities," Ivan Dodig said after the match.
For Marin Cilic this was his 34th win in Davis Cup that put him one ahead of his former coach Goran Ivanisevic and just two behind Ivan Ljubicic who leads the list of the most successful Croatian players in this competition.
Cilic and Dodig are the fourth Croatian pair that managed such a turnaround in Davis Cup matches. Goran Ivanisevic did it once with Sasa Hirszon against Norway in 1994 and three times when his partner was Ivan Ljubicic: in 2001 against Italy in Rome, in 2002 in Buenos Aires versus Argentina and in 2003 against Team USA in Zagreb. In 2006 against Austria in Graz, Ivan Ljubicic partnered Mario Ancic to beat home team after losing the first two sets.
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