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Mighty Ljubicic puts Croatia in Davis Cup final
Ljubicic beat Mikhail Youzhny to level the tie at 1-1 on Friday after Davydenko had earlier beaten Ancic, then teamed up with Ancic on Saturday to beat Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Andreev. HOPES SCUPPERED His victory against Davydenko was his ninth win in nine Davis Cup matches this season, including stunning victories over Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to knock the United States out in the first round. "My serve was the key today, and the crowd were fantastic," said Ljubicic, who had played 10 sets in the tie already before taking on the dangerous Davydenko. "Every time I needed a serve I found one. "I had some terrible times at the beginning of my Davis Cup career, but through the years I've learned how to deal with the pressure match after match." Despite nearly seven hours on court on Friday and Saturday, Ljubicic showed no signs of fatigue as he bossed the first set with a thunderous display of serving. Only in the second set tiebreak did world number seven Davydenko threaten to spoil the party, leading 3-0 and 5-3 before Ljubicic stormed back to open a two-set lead. Ljubicic's serve came to the rescue at 2-2 in the third set when he survived two break points, and that proved to be a domoralised Davydenko's last chance to keep the 2002 champions alive. The Bosnia-born Ljubicic had never beaten Davydenko before but he broke the
Russian to love in the 10th game before being mobbed by his team mates.
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