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Russia win Davis Cup to seal international team double

(L-R) Captain Shamil Tarpischev, Danil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aslan Karatsev, Karen Kachanov and Evgeny Donskoy of The Russian Tennis Federation celebrate winning the David Cup
(L-R) Captain Shamil Tarpischev, Danil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aslan Karatsev, Karen Kachanov and Evgeny Donskoy of The Russian Tennis Federation celebrate winning the David Cup

The Russian Tennis Federation completed a trophy double as Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev secured Davis Cup victory over Croatia in the final in Madrid.

A month after the Russians claimed the prize at the Billie Jean King Cup finals, Rublev defeated Borna Gojo and Medvedev saw off Marin Cilic to give the country the two most prestigious trophies in international team tennis.

Banned from competing under their flag because of violations of anti-doping rules, the Russians ensured their rankings superiority translated to silverware.

Russia took an unassailable 2-0 lead to secure their third title and first in 15 years, as Medvedev outlasted Croatian Marin Cilic 7-6 (7) 6-2.

Reigning US Open champion Medvedev had to produce his best tennis to survive a tense first set as a confident Cilic sent across nine forehand winners and won nearly three-quarters of his service points.

The crowd inside Madrid Arena were reduced to pin-drop silence as the 1.98-metre titans went into a tiebreak, where Medvedev relied on his backhand to prevail despite an ill-timed double fault.

Cilic showed signs of fatigue in the second set as the world number two broke his serve in the fourth game before running away with the momentum, dropping just one of his first-serve points.

"It feels amazing but I'm more happy for the team than for myself," Medvedev said.

"We have an amazing team, amazing atmosphere, and I’m just happy to be part of this team and to be able to bring the points that we need. It was a pretty amazing two weeks because it’s never easy to come here at the end of the season. Two of the best weeks of my career."

Andrey Rublev of Russia celebrates

Earlier, world number five Andrey Rublev beat Borna Gojo 6-4 7-6(5) to give the Russian Federation a 1-0 lead.

Russia's third title equals the Czech Republic and Germany in seventh place on the all-time list of Davis Cup winners.

World number 279 Gojo entered the match as the big surprise of the tournament and a favourite of the Spanish crowd.

He was unbeaten in the finals with three victories over world number 61 Alexei Popyrin of Australia, number 27 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, and 33rd-ranked Serbian Dusan Lajovic.

But Rublev played a near-flawless match, overpowering Gojo with strong serving to keep the Croatian on the back foot.

Gojo battled hard but Rublev broke his serve at the fourth attempt before taking the opening set in 35 minutes.

Gojo fired down 11 aces and the second set went to 6-6 before Rublev edged the tiebreaker to clinch victory.

"It was super tough and I felt a lot of pressure but it's good to put my country in the lead," Rublev told reporters.

Russia are the fourth nation to win both Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup titles after the women's team won that event in Prague with a 2-0 victory over Switzerland in the final last month.

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