Croatia into Davis Cup Finals as South Korea celebrate

PARIS: Two-time champions Croatia reached the Davis Cup Finals on Sunday where they were joined by unheralded South Korea and Finland.

Croatia, the champions in 2005 and 2018, were 2-0 up on Austria in their qualifier in Rijeka overnight. Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler then upset doubles specialists Nikola Mektic and Ivan Dodig 6-3, 7-6 (13/11) to keep Austria in the tie.

However, world number 23 Borna Coric won his second singles rubber, seeing off former US Open champion Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 as Croatia joined the 16-nation group stage of the finals in September.

“I was pretty nervous,” said Coric. “But I came out on court and I was playing great tennis today.” In arguably the performance of the qualifying round, South Korea overturned a 2-0 deficit to beat Belgium 3-2 in Seoul.

Hong Seong-chan, ranked 237 in the world, clinched the deciding point with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over Zizou Bergs, ranked 122 places higher. “The players made history as a team. It’s a dream to advance to the finals for two consecutive years,” said South Korea captain Park Seung-kyu.

Nam Ji-sung and Song Ming-kyu started the South Korean fightback with a 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) doubles win against Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.