Croatian Marin Cilic was on the brink of a five-match losing streak on Monday in Madrid. But the ninth seed saved four match points and dominated a final-set tie-break to defeat Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(0), advancing to the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Cilic had won just one match since the Australian Open. But the World No. 11 will take confidence from his two-hour, 48-minute victory, moving on to face German Jan-Lennard Struff, who defeated Aussie Nick Kyrgios on Sunday. Struff defeated Cilic in a final-set tie-break in Tokyo last year, and their FedEx ATP Head2Head series is tied at 1-1.
Klizan was never in good position to take advantage of any of his match points, making errors on three of them, and dropping a ball short that allowed Cilic to punish a forehand winner on the other. Cilic won 75 per cent of his first-serve points in his victory.
American Taylor Fritz went through qualifying this week for the first time this season. And now, after an impressive 7-6(8), 7-6(4) win against 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, Fritz is into the second round of the main draw in the Spanish capital.
The 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier has lost in the first round six times this year, but he showed no apprehension against the Bulgarian, playing some of his best tennis in crucial moments against Dimitrov to advance after one hour and 47 minutes.
Fritz saved one set point in the first-set tie-break to take the lead. And although Fritz double-faulted a break-lead back to Dimitrov in the second set, he remained calm and allowed Dimitrov to make the mistakes in the second-set tie-break. The American hit 15 aces in the match, which is his first-ever main draw win in Madrid.
The World No.57 will next face top-ranked Novak Djokovic. In their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting last month in Monte-Carlo, Djokovic cruised with the loss of just three games. The 21-year-old owns two wins against Top 10 opponents, defeating Marin Cilic at Indian Wells two years ago and John Isner in Auckland in January.
In a battle of Serbians, Rio de Janeiro champion Laslo Djere beat Monte-Carlo finalist Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-4. Djere, also a semi-finalist in Budapest, will next face seventh seed Juan Martin del Potro. The Argentine is playing just his second tournament of the year (also Delray Beach) as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.
Listen To ATP Tennis Radio's Interview With Djere:
Did You Know?
Fritz reached a career-high No. 40 in the ATP Rankings on 28 January. Including this week, the American is defending just 71 points through Roland Garros.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour http://bit.ly/2Jl7vQg
No comments:
Post a Comment