ZAGREB, Croatia, March 4 (UPI) -- Marin Cilic and Philipp Kohlschreiber each won five-set matches Friday, giving Croatia and Germany a split after the first day of their Davis Cup series.
Cilic took the final two sets for a 4-6, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Florian Mayer, but Kohlschreiber evened the best-of-five series with a 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 victory over Ivan Dodig.
The crowd in Zagreb was treated to nearly 8 hours of tennis as the matches totaled 572 points, 201 winners and 52 aces.
Cilic faced 20 break-point situations but only two in the final two sets when he rallied for the win. He had 22 of his 50 winners in those sets.
Kohlschreiber also had nearly half his 63 winners in the final two sets in his come-from-behind win. He won 159 points while Dodig won 158 in the 4 1/2-hour match.
Dodig is scheduled to play in Saturday's doubles match with Ivo Karlovic against Germans Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner. The winner of that match will have an advantage heading into Sunday's singles when Kohlschreiber is to play Cilic and Mayer meets Dodig.
Croatia and Germany are playing for a slot in a Davis Cup quarterfinal series, to be played in July, against either Austria of France. France owns a 2-0 lead in that series.
