AP – Borna Coric beat 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Sunday to send Croatia into the group stage of the Davis Cup.
Coric helped the Croatians win their second Davis Cup title in 2018, but he was sidelined when they lost in the 2021 final while missing a year of action with a right shoulder injury.
He returned to the tour last March, winning a Masters 1000 title in August in Cincinnati, Ohio, and rejoined the Croatians when they reached the Davis Cup semifinals last year.
His victory over Thiem, who has also dealt with injuries in recent years, gave Croatia a 3-1 victory in Rijeka. The Austrians had taken the tie against the number one team in the Davis Cup rankings to a fourth match when Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler beat Ivan Dodig and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 7-6 (11) in the doubles match earlier on Sunday.
Chile, Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea and the Czech Republic also completed victories on Sunday to secure their places in the next round, which will be played in September. On Saturday, the United States (US) completed a sweep of Uzbekistan, while Serbia, France, Britain, Switzerland and Sweden also finished off victories.
Those 12 countries will play in the group stage, along with reigning champion Canada, 2022 runner-up Australia and wild-card recipients Italy and Spain.
Eight teams will then advance to the closing matches of the Davis Cup Finals scheduled for November 21-26 in Malaga, Spain.
