Croatia’s best tennis player Marin Čilić, who is outside the world’s top 10 for the first time since October 2016, joins Ivo Karlović in the third round of the Masters Series 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, reports HRT on March 11, 2019. 

Marin Čilić, the 11th-seed of the tournament who was free in the first round, defeated Serbian tennis player Dušan Lajović, 45th on the ATP ranking, 6:3, 6:4 on Sunday.

This was the third meeting between Čilić and Lajović and the third victory of the Croatian player. This time, Čilić celebrated after an hour and 33 minutes of play.

At the start of the first set, Čilić took the service of his rival twice and led 4:0. In the eighth game, Čilić missed seven breaks but managed to secure the first set in the next game.

The second set saw a more equal game. Čilić took the service of his rival twice, and Lajović from Čilić once. In the tenth game, the Serbian tennis player had three breaks, but Čilić saved all of them and took advantage of his second match point. 

In the third round, Čilic will play against Canadian player Denis Shapovalov, who defeated American player Steve Johnson 6:3, 6: 4. In their only match so far, Čilić celebrated in Basel in 2018.

In the duel, Čilić won 77 percent of his first-serve points and Lajović only 55 percent.

This was Čilić’s sixth match of 2019 as he had to withdraw from two tournaments this year because of a knee injury. Čilić’s best result in Indian Wells was in 2016 when he reached the quarterfinals.

Ivo Karlović will play his third round match on Monday against Indian tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran. This will be the first meeting between the two players. 

Mate Pavić is representing Croatia in the doubles competition with partner Oliver Marach. The two will play in the round of 16 on Tuesday against Mackenzie McDonald and Reilly Opelka. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

In the competition for the best athlete of Dalmatia by Slobodna Dalmacija, Split tennis player Mate Pavić was declared the winner. Behind him was a memorable season, where he was excellent with his partner Oliver Marach to win the Australian Open, ended the year as the best doubles team, and finished at the top of the ATP doubles ranking, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on February 5, 2019. 

Pavić’s fantastic year was then crowned with the success of the Croatia national team, who won the Davis Cup against France. All this was more than enough for Mate to find himself on the list of top athletes in Dalmatia, which is why the trophy for the best athlete, which was presented at the Old City Hall on Split's Pjaca, ended in the right hands.

“Of course I’m glad and honored to win this award, and be in the company of top athletes from other sports. Dalmatia is known as a region of top athletes, so to be a part of it is really a great honor,” Mate said. 

2018 was an exceptional year for Mate. 

“Definitely, behind me is the best season I've had so far. It is difficult to repeat, I hope to succeed, but to be number one in doubles and as the team at the end of the year, we won the Grand Slam, the Davis Cup at the end of the year ... It will be hard to repeat it all, but I will try.”

Croatia celebrated when the team won the Davis Cup in Lille and brought home the trophy. What were Mate’s impressions on the great end to the year?

"The impressions were beautiful. I took a few years off competitions, and now I had the opportunity to become part of something big. I played in Zadar in front of a local audience, then away in France... To be a part of the individual sports team, to be with my colleagues is something special and the final in Lille will always stay in my memory.”

The new season did not begin as well for Pavić and Marach, who dropped out of the Australian Open in the second round.

“In Australia, we played a bit worse in two or three matches. Not nearly as good as last year when we returned from the southern hemisphere with three titles, but overall it was not that bad. My Davis Cup season was very long; maybe I needed a bit more time to rest between the two seasons, which I did not have. We are now moving on to new tournaments, we can play well and there is no reason we shouldn’t continue winning titles.”

Last year Pavić won in the mixed doubles competition of the Australian Open with Canadian player Gabriela Dabrowski, though this year the pair were also unlucky in the same tournament. Will they still play together?

“I’ve already played with Dabrowski for a year now, and this is our fifth tournament, so there is no reason we shouldn’t play all the Grand Slams together.”

What awaits Pavić now?

“Nenad Zimonjić asked me to play a tournament in Sofia, and then I’ll return to Marach and go to Rotterdam, Dubai and Indian Wells.”

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Ivo Karlović started the new season with yet another memorable achievement!

It’s been a long and tough year for Ivo Karlović, and although he finished with a loss in the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger in Houston to Niko Dominik Koepfer, a player 15 years his junior, the 39-year-old Croatian tennis player had no reason to feel defeat - he did achieve his goal of finishing 2018 among the Top 100 players on the individual ATP rankings.

Mate Pavić has won the flattering ATP title ahead of the ATP Finals in London.

Marin Čilić has eliminated the 10th best player in the world from the Paris Masters to advance to the quarterfinals against Djokovic.

The 39-year-old from Zagreb has made ATP Challenger history! 

Behind Borna Ćorić is the most successful week in his professional career. Even though he lost the Masters 1000 series tournament final in Shanghai against Novak Djoković on Sunday, he’s achieved his highest ATP ranking, making Croatia the only country with two tennis players in the world’s Top 15.

Though he put up an incredible fight, Borna Ćorić was unable to repeat his success from the semi-final against Federer and failed to win his first Masters 1000 title. 

In a brilliant semi-final game, Croatia’s Borna Ćorić kicked out Roger Federer from the Shanghai Masters.