Tennis: Croatia beat US in stunning Davis Cup comeback, to host France in s-final; Britain play Argentina

Borna Coric plays during the Roland Garros 2016 French Tennis Open in Paris on May 28, 2016. PHOTO: AFP

(REUTERS) - Teenage tennis player Borna Coric completed an unlikely comeback for Croatia, as the small Balkan nation beat the United States 3-2 in a Davis Cup quarter-final in Oregon on Sunday.

After losing the first two singles rubbers on Friday, Croatia kept alive their hopes by winning Saturday's doubles before sweeping both reverse singles on the hard courts in Portland.

Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, beat John Isner 7-6 (13-11), 6-3, 6-4 in a battle of big servers to set up a deciding rubber between 19-year-old Coric and Jack Sock.

The 54th-ranked Coric prevailed 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4.

"Our team just shows how much spirit we have, how much we're motivated," Cilic said in an on-court interview as Coric celebrated with a small but vocal section of Croatian fans.

"All weekend we played amazing tennis and Borna produced unbelievable tennis (in) the deciding rubber."

Croatia advanced to a home semi-final against France, while defending champion Britain will host Argentina in the other semi.

Britain needed to win only one of Sunday's two reverse singles against Serbia in Belgrade, and Kyle Edmund wrapped up victory for the visitors with a rubber to spare when he beat Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

It was the first time Britain had ever won a World Group tie without their top-ranked player, as Andy Murray sat out the clash following his Wimbledon victory last Sunday.

Serbia were also without world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

In the other quarters, Argentina beat Italy 3-1 and France defeated the Czech Republic by the same scoreline.

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