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By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 13, 2018

 
Lucas Pouille

A veteran, versatile French squad aims to defend the Davis Cup when it hosts a talented Croatian team led by Marin Cilic and Borna Coric in Lille this month.

Photo credit: Davis Cup Facebook

A familiar French cast aims to make a Davis Cup title defense in the last homestand final.

Davis Cup hero Lucas Pouille, Jeremy Chardy, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Pierre Hugues-Herbert and Nicolas Mahut have been name to the French squad that will host Croatia on the red clay of Lille in the Davis Cup final set for November 23-25th.

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French captain Yannick Noah picked a versatile, veteran group for the final, which will be the last Davis Cup final staged using the traditional home-and-away format. 

Defending-champion France is playing for its 11th Davis Cup championship. The draw will be conducted on Thursday, November 22nd at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.



Croatian captain Zeljko Krajan counters with singles standouts Marin Cilic and Borna Coric as well as world No. 3 doubles player Mate Pavic, Ivan Dodig and Franko Skugor.

The road-warrior Croatian crew have not lost an away tie since 2015.




A year ago, the 23-year-old Pouille played Davis Cup hero, sweeping Steve Darcis, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0, to clinch France's first Davis Cup since 2001 and set off a wild celebration in Lille.

Pouille is winless against both of Croatia's expected singles starters.

The seventh-ranked Cilic conquered Pouille, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2, in their lone prior meeting in the 2016 Davis Cup semifinals contested on a hard court in Croatia.




World No. 12 Coric has beaten the 32nd-ranked Pouille in both of their previous encounters, including a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4, victory in Vienna last month.

Coric showed tremendous character fighting back from two sets to one down to defeat Frances Tiafoe and clinch Croatia's 3-2 semifinal victory over the United States on red clay in September.

Contesting its third Davis Cup final, Croatia is playing for its first championship since Ivan Ljubicic carried Croatia to the 2005 Davis Cup when it made history as the first unseeded nation to claim the Cup. 

The 42nd-ranked Chardy has won two of three matches vs. Coric, including their most recent clay-court encounter at the 2017 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. 

Australian Open runner-up Cilic has won three of five meetings with Chardy, who won their lone clay clash nine years ago in Munich.

This final marks the end of an era as captain Noah will step down from his post after the final and it's the last final contested with Davis Cup's traditional home-and-away format.

Next year, the 118-year-old international team competition will undergo a radical reformation adopting an 18-team, World Cup-style Davis Cup final.

The first edition of the new week-long Davis Cup final format will be staged in Madrid, November 18-24th, 2019.

International Tennis Federation president David Haggerty asserts the new format will elevate Davis Cup to the status of a fifth Grand Slam.



The new format is a game-changer, but will it revitalize Davis Cup or kill the spirit and tradition of the competition?

The new format virtually eliminates the traditional 16-team World Group format with home-and-away ties staged during four weekends spread out over the season, except for a 24-team qualifying round set for February, which will feature home-and-away ties.

 

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