World No.10 Juan Martin del Potro shrugged off a bout of nausea to cruise past Ivo Karlovic 6-2 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 and pull Argentina level 1-1 with Croatia in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Friday.

Del Potro had been reported to have suffered from vomiting in the morning but he showed few ill effects to keep his country’s campaign on track.

Earlier Marin Cilic gave Croatia, the 2005 champions, a winning start when he beat David Nalbandian 5-7 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 in a five-hour epic scarred by 241 unforced errors.

Cilic, the world No.23, took the opening rubber on his second match point to silence the crowd at the Parque Roca claycourt venue after five hours and nine minutes and celebrate his first win over Nalbandian in five meetings.

Argentina, last year’s runners-up to Spain, hold the unwanted record for reaching the most Davis Cup finals without winning the title, having fallen in four finals.

The last time Argentina lost a home tie on clay was against the Slovak Republic in 1998.

The winners of this tie will face either the Czech Republic or Serbia in the semi-finals.