Marin Cilic made the most of his experience on Monday in Sydney, working hard to beat 20-year-old Kacper Zuk 7-6(8), 6-4 to give Croatia a 1-0 lead against Poland.
With plenty of Croatian flags waving in the crowd, the former World No. 3 was patient against Zuk’s inspired play. It was the World No. 448’s first tour-level match, but he showed composure you’d expect from a veteran on Ken Rosewall Arena. Cilic now has 504 tour-level wins, though, and it showed in crucial moments with him playing just a bit more solid under pressure.
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The biggest moment of the match came with Cilic serving at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break. A win in the first set over a former Grand Slam champion would have given Zuk plenty of confidence, but after putting the return back into play, the 20-year-old eventually missed a defensive backhand long.
That was the only opening Cilic needed to take the set, and he didn’t look back from there. The Croat continuously applied pressure, even though he converted just one of 13 break points. Cilic withstood eight Zuk aces and won 85 per cent of his own first-serve points en route to a two-hour, 10-minute triumph.
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The crowd roared as Zuk launched a final backhand long, with Cilic pumping his fist towards the Croatian Team Zone in celebration.
Croatia will now have a chance to move to 2-0 at the ATP Cup when Borna Coric plays Polish No. 1 Hubert Hurkacz. Coric won the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting, defeating the Pole 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 last year at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Croat is fresh off a strong performance against World No. 4 Dominic Thiem, whom he beat in three sets on Saturday.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/36torge
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