Ancic holds nerve to win Davis Cup for Croatia

Croatia won the Davis Cup for the first time yesterday when Mario Ancic beat Slovakia's Michal Mertinak 7-6 6-3 6-4 to clinch a 3-2 victory in a rollercoaster final.

Ancic delivered the victory on his second match point, sparking wild celebrations on the court and in the packed Sibamac Arena where chanting Croatian fans went berserk, lighting flares and unfurling a huge flag.

The 21-year-old chose the perfect time to win his first live singles rubber of the year, rescuing his country's hopes after Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty earlier beat Ivan Ljubicic in a five-set thriller to make it 2-2.

Ljubicic, who woke up with a stiff neck and was sick during his 4-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-4 defeat, fell one win short of matching John McEnroe's 1982 feat of 12 straight wins in a Davis Cup year.

"I woke up with a blocked neck completely," said the 26-year-old, who only decided he was fit to play little more than an hour before his match.

"I took a chance, I decided to try. Then after the second set I went to the toilet to throw up. But, I mean, Dominik played an unbelievable match."

At least he could still celebrate along with the hundreds of Croatian fans and former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic after Ancic kept his cool to outclass world number 165 Mertinak.

Mertinak, a 26-year-old better known for his doubles, played instead of the more experienced Karol Kucera, who himself had only been called up for Friday's first singles against Ljubicic because of a knee injury to Slovak number two Karol Beck.

Mertinak played a solid enough first set, but Ancic cruised through the tiebreak 7-1 and, apart from a brief wobble in the third set when he was broken, rarely looked in danger.

The atmosphere for the decisive rubber was electric, although nothing like as highly-charged as for yesterday's pulsating first singles.

Hrbaty had lost all five meetings with Ljubicic, but as he had done against Ancic on Friday to level the tie at 1-1, he produced tennis of the highest quality.