Davis Cup Tennis 2018: Croatia and France Dominant in Day 1 of Semi-Finals

Croatia and France took control of their respective Davis Cup semi-final ties on Friday as they both surged into 2-0 leads.

For Croatia, it was Borna Coric and Marin Cilic who did the damage against the United States, as they won in straight sets against Steve Johnson and Frances Tiafoe, respectively.

Meanwhile, Benoit Paire put defending champions France into an early lead with a dominant performance against Spain's Pablo Carreno-Busta. Lucas Pouille then made it a perfect day for France, outlasting Roberto Bautista-Agut in a five-set epic.

Here are the results from the opening day of the Davis Cup semi-finals and a look back at the best bits from the day's play.

Davis Cup Semi-Final Scores

Croatia 2-0 United States 

Borna Coric (CRO) bt. Steve Johnson (USA), 6-4 7-6(3) 6-3

Marin Cilic (CRO) bt. Frances Tiafoe (USA), 6-1 6-3 7-6(5)

France 2-0 Spain

Benoit Paire (FRA) bt. Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP), 7-5 6-1 6-0

Lucas Pouille (FRA) bt. Roberto Bautista-Agut (ESP), 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 2-6 6-4

Saturday Schedule

Croatia vs. United States

Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic (CRO) vs. Mike Bryan and Ryan Harrison (USA)

France vs. Spain

Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut (FRA) vs. Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Croatia, France in Control After Friday Rubbers

Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images

Following his deep run into the U.S. Open, the United States were without John Isner for this match, and that was always going to be a blow. The team's lack of depth showed on a challenging day here.

Factor in Croatia were able to call upon two fine players in Coric and Cilic, and this was always going to be a difficult day on the Zadar clay for the Team USA representatives.

Coric was at least tested by Johnson, as the underdog was able to ensure both of the opening sets were tight despite losses. In the third, there were signs of weariness from the United States representative, as the class of the 21-year-old showed.

Coric was also able to delight the home crowd with this incredible shot:

With Cilic to come after this win, the signs were positive for the Croatians. The former U.S. Open champion and current world No. 6 posed a massive challenge for 20-year-old Tiafoe, and his power was too much for the American to cope with in two lopsided opening sets.

Tiafoe did take the third stanza to a tiebreak, although on the big points, Cilic was able to find another gear and ultimately a routine win.

Despite falling 2-0 down overall, the USTA praised the effort of their man against Cilic:

France don't appear to be ready to relinquish their title without a fight this year, with Paire putting down the hammer in his match.

Following an even first set that the Frenchman eventually won, he blew Carreno-Busta off the court with some remarkable shot-making for the rest of the match, giving his country a quick first point of the semi-final.

The competition Twitter account summed up just how dominant Paire was late in the match:

The last match of the day proved to be the most gripping, as Pouille and Bautista-Agut played out a five-set thriller.

After taking lead, the Spaniard was hauled back and overtaken by his opponent before Pouille dug in to level things up again, taking this one into a decider. In the end, perhaps willed on by the strength of the raucous home support, it was Pouille who clinched an even final set, putting France within touching distance of another final.