Novak Djokovic hails ‘fighting spirit’ in Serbian Davis Cup quarter-final victory

Novak Djokovic is immensely proud to have helped see Serbia through to their fifth ever Davis Cup semi-final.

An epic opening rubber between Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and Miomir Kecmanovic saw Serbia go 1-0 down in the tie.

The match ended 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (13-11) after four match points for each player and three hours and 18 minutes on-court.

But from there, Djokovic dealt with Alexander Bublik in straight sets before partnering Nikola Cacic to defeat Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to send his nation into the last four.

“I’m most proud of the fighting spirit,” Djokovic said following the doubles win.

“We had a little drop energetically in the second set. But we managed to bounce back.

“The start of the third set was crucial. The first couple of games we held our nerves, tried to switch the momentum to our side and that’s what we managed.

“I’m proud of Nicola [Cacic], proud of this team and I think we deserve to be in the semi-finals. Thank you for your support.”

It is the first time Serbia have advanced to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup since 2017, and the first time they have done so since the format shifted in 2019.

Their only title in the competition came back in 2010, a team which Djokovic was part of as he won both his singles rubbers in the final against France.

Next up, Serbia face two-time champions Croatia who overcame Italy in Turin to reach the last four.

The victor between Serbia and Croatia will then face Germany, the Russian Tennis Federation or Sweden in the final, as the latter two are yet to complete the last quarter-final tie.

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