Ljubicic plays down record bid

The 26-year-old Croatian gave his country a 1-0 lead in the Davis Cup final with an efficient straight-sets win over Karol Kucera on Friday before Dominik Hrbaty levelled the tie for Slovakia.

The victory gave Ljubicic, ranked ninth in the world, a perfect 10-0 balance sheet in this year's competition, a record for live rubbers.

He has a chance to equal John McEnroe's [Images] 1982 Davis Cup record of 12-0, though three of those wins came in dead rubbers, as Croatia chase their first Davis Cup title.

With a victory in Saturday's doubles, Ljubicic would then be able to match McEnroe by winning his reverse singles on Sunday against Hrbaty.

"Honestly, I am not thinking about breaking any records," he told reporters after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Kucera.

"I really don't care about that record. If we had won 3-0, I wouldn't have played on Sunday.

Ljubicic, who has matched his stellar Davis Cup performance with an almost equally brilliant season on the ATP Tour, including 16 consecutive wins at one stage and two titles, was full of praise for the Croatia fans.

"It's fantastic, it's really helping us to play in a relaxed atmosphere," he said.

"I'm really glad so many Croatians showed up. I would say its 50-50 in the stadium."

Croatia captain Niki Pilic said he never doubted that Ljubicic would give the team a winning start.

"He was full of confidence, I have a feeling he never thought he was going to lose the match," said Pilic. "He was playing extremely well."

Hrbaty's 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 triumph over Mario Ancic means Ljubicic will definitely play on Sunday against the Slovak number one.

Before that he will be in action with Ancic for the doubles rubber against Hrbaty and Michal Mertinak.

"In my head were two scores after the first day, 1-1 or 2-0 to us," said Pilic. "We now have to concentrate on the doubles."

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