Davis Cup final: Croatia leads Argentina 1-0

However, it was Cilic who had the final laugh as he won the deciding fifth set 6-2 to give his side an early lead.

That levelled the tie at 2-2 and Delbonis duly completed a convincing 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory in the decisive fifth match, thrilling the enthusiastic section of Argentinian supporters – including footballing great Diego Maradona – in the venue.

Argentina’s comeback is just the seventh time in Davis Cup history that a country has come from 2-1 down to become champions.

Del Potro added: “This was an emotionally exhausting match and one of the biggest wins of my career”.

Delbonis dropped to the ground after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Croatia’s Marin Cilic roars after winning a point against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis, during their singles match in the Davis Cup tennis tournament final between the two countries, in Zagreb, Croatia, Friday, Nov. 25, 2016.

It was fifth time lucky for Argentina, who lost in the final in 1981, 2006, 2008 and 2011.

Del Potro was rock solid, allowing the Croat not one break point in the entire match which kept the 15,000-capacity crowd enthalled for three hours and 19 minutes.

Cilic will take on Del Potro and Karlovic is scheduled to face Delbonis in Sunday’s reverse singles.

“After losing the second set, I was a bit frightened”, Del Potro said.

The last two sets of the contest witnessed Potro look comfortable and clinch the last two sets to tie the final 2-2.

Del Potro and Cilic are both US Open winners and were among the top entertainers on the ATP Tour in 2016.

He picked a great time for his first, as his almost five hour comeback win over Marin Cilic on Sunday propelled Argentina to an upset of Croatia for its first ever Davis Cup title.

“I think we are all very good players, the team captain chose me but anyone on this team is always ready to step up to the challenge”, Delbonis said of his team.

“After losing the third set, I was still confident I could win as he looked exhausted”, Cilic said.

“This is fabulous”, Delbonis said. “Federico played a ideal match under huge pressure”.

“I never said the match would be easy”. “They deserve to win the tournament after eliminating the U.S. away and defeating France, but we made it really far after playing the whole year away from home”.