Croatia take lead in Davis Cup final
LILLE: Croatia’s Borna Coric outplayed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy to give his country the perfect start in the Davis Cup final on Friday.
The 22-year-old broke serve in the opening game of the opening singles rubber and was in control throughout a one-sided contest to claim a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory and put favourites Croatia 1-0 ahead.
Holders France, bidding to win the Davis Cup for the 11th time, will now hope Jo-wilfried Tsonga can level things up when he takes on world No 7 Marin Cilic later.
If not ,it will be a long way back for the hosts, who have won seven successive ties in the competition. Yannick Noah, hoping to end his third stint as France cap- tain with a fourth title, sprang a surprise by opting for Chardy for the opening day’s singles rather than Lucas Pouille, the highestranked player in his squad.
PRAJNESH REAHES CHALLENGER FINAL
PUNE: Prajnesh Gunneswaran earned a shot at a second consecutive title on the ATP Challenger circuit after conquering top seed Radu Albot in a gripping semi-final at the KPIT-MSLTA tournament, here on Friday.
Prajnesh, the winner of Bengaluru Open last week, had to sweat it out to beat the Moldovan 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in exact two hours.
Fourth seed Prajnesh will now fight it out with Swedish third seed Elias Ymer, who sent packing Canadian Brayden Schnur 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the other semi-final.