Cilic goes the distance in tie against Ramanathan as Croatia go two up against India

Marin Cilic put Croatia into the driving seat at the Davis Cup Finals Qualifiers by defeating Ramkumar Ramanathan in a really close tie which was won by the former Grand Slam champion.

Cilic saw off Ramanathan who surprisingly pushed him to his limits in a 7-6 (8), 7-6 (8) win to go with Brona Gojo's victory over Prajnesh Gunneswaran 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The former led on the aces with a brilliant 18 compared to 6 and also held the difference on 1st serve points won and 2nd serve points won but the reason why it went so close is potentially in the break points.

Both players had two attempts but none of them sunk them meaning that it had to go to tiebreaks both times. He held the initiative though when it came to total points won with 91-78 and while he will not be happy with that display, it is all about getting points on the board for Cilic.

https://twitter.com/DavisCup/status/1236002210493935616?s=20