Madrid, Dec. 2 (BNA): Intractable Novak Djokovic sent Serbia into the Davis Cup semi-final against Croatia, as the world number one inspired a victory over Kazakhstan in Madrid on Wednesday.
Serbia held up to the wall when Kazakh veteran Mikhail Kokoshkin defeated newcomer Miomir Kikmanovic in a three-hour epic in his first individual rubber.
But Djokovic equalized by defeating Alexander Bublik in straight sets before returning to the field to team up with Nikola Cacic and beat Kazakh duo Andrei Golubev and Alexander Nedovsov 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, Reuters reported.
Djokovic has played five out of six potential rubbers in the Davis Cup Finals so far, and appears to be in the mood to lead the team to the title they memorably won in Belgrade in 2010.
When Cacic, who struggled during the second set, made a low return to enable Serbia to take victory on match point three, Djokovic and his teammates celebrated loudly.
Encouraged by a raucous crowd all the time at the Madrid Arena, Kazakhstan lost all of their Davis Cup quarter-final matches.
“I’m proud of the fighting spirit, we went down in the second set but rebounded and stopped our nerves, I’m proud of Nicolas and proud of this team,” Djokovic said on the court.
Serbia will meet Croatia on Friday in Madrid with the other semi-final match between Germany and the Russian Federation or Sweden.
Kazakhstan were thrillingly close to the semi-finals when 33-year-old Kukushkin entered into a three-hour 18-minute battle against 22-year-old Kikmanovic.
He came from behind from 2-5 in the deciding set and saved four match points before converting a fifth game point in a nerve-wracking tiebreak to win 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (11).
Kikmanovic made a small mistake but couldn’t keep his opponent off in a match that somehow went awry.
Serbia captain Viktor Troicki opted to go with world number 69 Kikmanovic ahead of more experienced options and it looked like it paid off as the player rose to the task.
Kukushkin, now ranked 182 but once in the top 40, started slowly as he gave up his opening match, but his experience showed he took the first set of the tiebreak and topped 4-2 with a break in the second set.
But Kikmanovic found another level and won seven games in a row to take the second set and lead 3-0 in the deciding set before Kukushkin qualified.
Kukushkin saved five break points to avoid a 4-0 fall, and due to caution in the wind, saved three points for the match when Kikmanovic was leading 5-3.
Kikmanovic was the first to reach match point in the tiebreak but fired a long forehand 6-5.
The Serbian showed great resilience to lock down four points of the match but Kokoshkin finally got the job done when he hit the break 13-11.
Djokovic was unfazed by the unpredictable Publik in his 6-3 6-4 win – his 17th consecutive Davis Cup win.
Then his class told the decision maker as he carried his team across the line.
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