Borna Gojo sealed a dramatic win for Croatia in Group F of the 2023 United Cup season which was held in Perth.
The world number 144 found a solution to overthrew Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, a victory that secured Croatia’s passage to the United Cup City Finals against Group A winners, Greece.
The pressure was on the shoulders of the Croatian national tennis player, after the world number 4 tennis player from France, Caroline Garcia defeated Petra Martic to reduce the gap for France by 1-2 against Croatia in the last match of Group F.
READ ALSO : John Peers and Sam Stosur Australia knocked out Spain 3-2
However, the 24-year-old Gojo was cold under pressure, especially when winning two tiebreaks and defeating an opponent ranked 89 higher than himself.
Several big serves kept the world number 144 in the match as Mannarino dominated in the second and third, but the Frenchman failed to win at 5-3 in the decider and the Croat found the momentum to create three match point opportunities. in the 12th game.
Mannarino kept his cool to save all three chances, but the Croat never gave up and snatched a 5/1 lead in the tiebreak before claiming victory in 2 hours 50 minutes.
“I don’t know how I won,” admitted Borna Gojo. “There is no real answer. I’m just trying to use the support from the team and use that energy. I slumped a bit in the third set and thanks to them I won. Without them, I might have lost.”
The captain of the Croatian team in the United Cup this season, Iva Majoli was pleased to secure victory after Mannarino was able to force the decider.
“We know the 2-0 lead is quite big and more pressure is on France. But we know every game will be tough this time around. They have their best tennis player to play and the match is very open. I mean, victory can be claimed by each team. Mixed doubles, you never know. They may be a little favorite in that number,” said Majoli.
“I always feel very positive and I always believe in the tennis players, even sometimes when we are seen as dark horses, I feel positive. The same applies in this match. Petra was so close, then Borna played amazing and fierce.”
In the previous match, the 2022 WTA Finals champion, Garcia defeated Martic in a must-win match to keep France’s hopes of advancing to the United Cup City Finals. She entered the match with a promising head to head against the Croatian 4-1. He extended the lead over their rivalry by claiming a 7-6, 6-4 win.
However, Garcia’s efforts were unable to be followed by Mannarino in the next match.
France earned a consolation win after their doubles team, Jessika Ponchet and Edouard Roger Vasselin beat Petra Marcinko and Matija Pecotic 6-4, 6-4.
