Argentina – Croatia in the Davis Cup: Sebastián Báez lost to Borna Goyo in the first point and now the team needs a miracle to advance in the tournament

The argentinian team is bound to beat Croatia this Saturday to sustain the illusions of continuing in the Davis cup, beyond that it does not depend on himself and, in case of victory, he will still have to wait for Italy to defeat Sweden on Sunday and do accounts in group A. And the first point in the Italian afternoon left him on the verge of elimination from the tennis tournament: Sebastian Baez, 37th in the ATP ranking, lost 6-1, 3-6 and 3-6 to Borna Goyo (164º), of almost two meters and an even greater confidence.

On the hard surface of Bologna, the Croatian giant made clear differences at the start of the match, mainly with the strength of his serve and good resolutions. The first set was liquidated in 25 minutes, after breaking the Argentine’s service twice.

In the second set, Goyo stayed solid with his strategy and even threw some luxuries at the start. For his part, Báez was adding confidence to sustain himself in the game with effort and greater resistance against a rival who feels comfortable on that type of court. Before parity, anxiety made the difference: the Croatian committed two double faults and was vulnerable in the eighth game, and Sebastián, who had raised his level, achieved his first break to go 5-3 and close with his serve.

Baez had two breaks at the start of the final set. But Goyo saved him with two aces to start up at the moment he was weakest. Faced with this reaction from his rival, the Argentine felt the impact, he also gave up his serve and immediately found himself 0-3. It seemed insurmountable. The instability, the successes and shared errors gave Sebastián four break chances on the fifth point and he came close (2-3), but he soon gave up serve again and the game definitely got out of hand. Confident again, Borna appealed to his strength with the serve to sustain him and sentence the match.

A curiosity: the Croatians once again put on one of the chairs where the team sits a photo of Marin Cilic next to a bottle of water. “It occurred to us that that could give us some energy. He played for me in Davis in Spain when he got injured and we lost all the series 3-0. That’s why we decided to bring him here with us after playing with Italy and it’s working. His spirit is there to support us.” explained, smiling, Goyo. The number 16 in the ranking, 33 years old, is the great absentee of the series. After the 0-3 against Italy on the first date, the Croats placed Cilic’s image on the substitute bench: after that he came back from 1-0 against Sweden and won the second game 2-1. The cabal remains today, in the decisive series against Argentina…

In the second shift, Diego Schwartzman will not be here either, by decision of coach Guillermo Coria. Like against Italy on Friday, it will be Francisco Cerundolo (27th) the one who will go out on the field forced to beat the best Croatian, Borna Coric (26th), while later in the doubles Horacio Zeballos and Maximo Gonzalez will have a severe challenge against the Olympic champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.

The final stage of the Davis Cup, with the eight teams that qualify this weekend, will take place in the Spanish city of Malaga from November 22 to 27.