Marin Cilic defeats Mardy Fish to the reach the quarter-final at Internazionali BNL d’Italia
22-year-old Croatian, Marin Cilic surprised everyone by defeating the 11th seed Mardy Fish of the United States in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday. Being played at the Foro Italico in Rome,
Italy, the unseeded Croat outplayed the world number 11 in straight sets 7-6(6), 6-3, to move on to the quarter-final draws of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 1000 tournament.
Ranked at 23 in ATP world rankings, Cilic exhibited magnificent tennis skills to take down the American opponent in one hour and fifty four minutes. He faced a tough time from Fish in the opening set of the contest but eased through
the second set to register his 19th victory of the running year. Cilic fell behind his opponent in most segments of the game but he kept on winning the crucial points in the game to come out as the winner at the end.
The strong American competitor was phenomenal with his serve, as he fired 68 per cent of his first serve on target and banged in 10 cracking aces in the contest without conceding a single double fault. However, Fish failed to break
his opponent serve in the entire matchup, a weakness which cost him the match in the end.
Cilic had a below par first serve precision of 46 per cent and fired six aces, with four double faults in the game. He converted the only break opportunity he got in the second set to have the competitive advantage over Fish. The
Croat took off the opener with aggression, so did his opponent. The two contestants displayed intense tennis right from the beginning of the game and launched a series of attacking moves on their rivals to build up early pressure.
Both men failed to break each other and kept the score ticking on even terms. A routine game took the scores to 6-6 forcing a decisive tiebreaker. The tie breaker also went neck-to-neck as both players were not ready to submit.
Finally Cilic clinched two consecutive points to seal the first set at 7-6(6) and go one up in the contest.
The Croat proved devastating in the following set, as he bagged 21 out of 28 total serve points and registered the only serve break of the match to conclude victory at 6-3. He moves into the round of eight at Rome, where he will
take on the world number one, Rafael Nadal of Spain for a spot in the semis. The top seed Spaniard defeated his fellow compatriot, Feliciano Lopez in the third round of the tournament.
Tags: