Corentin Moutet overcomes Marin Cilic in tense Davis Cup clincher to send France to Final 8

Corentin Moutet didn't just need to overcome former Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic to send France to the Final 8 of the Davis Cup Finals. He also needed to overcome thousands of Cilic's fellow Croatians, who made their presence known in full voice after they felt their man was hard done by on the clay courts of Osijek.

Moutet, who made his Davis Cup debut for Les Bleus just one day prior in a three-set comeback against 20-year-old Dino Prizmic, entered Saturday's reverse singles match against Cilic with the opportunity to put the 10-time champions into the Davis Cup Finals for the first time since 2019 after Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic got the hosts on the scoreboard with a doubles win.

After an hour, despite losing leads of 3-0 and 5-3, the world No. 39 was up a set, and France was on the precipice.

But drama, something that often follows the Frenchman, began early in the second set—after Cilic vehemently disagreed with both Moutet and chair umpire Alison Hughes, who determined that a shot from the Croatian's racquet missed wide of the far sideline in the third game. The former Top 10 player eventually dropped serve, and after changing sides, proceeded to voice his displeasure at the decision.

Jeers rained down from the crowd, and more than once prompted contentious scenes between the two players, officials, and team captains Ivan Dodig and Paul-Henri Mathieu. The Dvorana Gradski Vrt sports hall turned into a pressure cooker, and a fired-up Cilic proceeded to come from a break down twice after the controversy to keep the home team in it.

But, as Moutet told French reporters on the eve of the tie, he's not one to shirk away from such a scene.

"I like playing high-stakes matches. The more pressure there is, the more I like it," he said.

Eventually quieting the crowd, Moutet sealed a 7-5, 6-4 win in straight sets by winning three consecutive games. Serving down 4-3, he crucially saved three break points, and finished off victory in nearly two-and-a-half hours.

"I saw the ball out," he said afterwards while apologizing to "everybody" and saying "we don't want to see that on the court."

"I'm just very sorry for what happened. I have a lot of respect for my opponent, a lot of respect for you," the Frenchman told fans. "He's such a great player, he's a legend of our sport. I didn't do it on purpose. If I knew [the ball was in], I would do something different ... I'm very happy that I made it."