Corentin Moutet didn’t just need to overcome former Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic to send France to the Final 8 of the Davis Cup Finals. He also needed to overcome thousands of Cilic’s fellow Croatians, who made their presence known in full voice after they felt their man was hard done by on the clay courts of Osijek.
Moutet, who made his Davis Cup debut for Les Bleus just one day prior in a three-set comeback against 20-year-old Dino Prizmic, entered Saturday’s reverse singles match against Cilic with the opportunity to put the 10-time champions into the Davis Cup Finals for the first time since 2019 after Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic got the hosts on the scoreboard with a doubles win.
After an hour, despite losing leads of 3-0 and 5-3, the world No. 39 was up a set, and France was on the precipice.
But drama, something that often follows the Frenchman, began early in the second set—after Cilic vehemently disagreed with both Moutet and chair umpire Alison Hughes, who determined that a shot from the Croatian’s racquet missed wide of the far sideline in the third game. The former Top 10 player eventually dropped serve, and after changing sides, proceeded to voice his displeasure at the decision.
