Fourth seed Andrey Rublev will contest his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final after ending former World No. 3 Marin Cilic’s run at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Tuesday. Rublev’s 6-4, 6-4 victory was delivered in 82 minutes and set a showdown with #NextGenATP American Sebastian Korda.
Rublev lifted his tour-leading match-win count this season to 19-3 and extended his ATP Head2Head record against the Croatian to 3-1. He joins top seed Daniil Medvedev as one of two Russians into the last eight in South Florida.
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Cilic was shooting for his first quarter-final in Miami since 2013 and his first win over a Top 10 opponent since his upset of Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round of last year’s Australian Open. After his semi-final finish in Singapore in February, this was the 32-year-old’s most promising run of 2021.
He had beaten 13th seed Cristian Garin before ending #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti’s run in straight sets. However, the in-form Rublev presented another step up. Rublev broke first for 3-2 and sustained the advantage to take the opening set after 41 minutes. His seven unforced errors were less than half the Croatian’s.
The Russian was in trouble when he found himself 0-30 down on serve at 1-2 in the second set before he reeled off four straight points to hold with a running forehand pass at full stretch. The minor escape only spurred him on as he broke again for 3-2 and never relinquished.
He finished with six fewer winners than the Croatian’s 24, but he only hit 16 unforced errors to Cilic’s 29. A maiden Masters 1000 semi-final will be on the line when Rublev next meets debutant Korda for the first time.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3u9zYwE
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