Marin Cilic downs Horacio Zeballos to advance to the quarterfinals of BMW Open
Third seed, Croatian Marin Cilic defeated world number 113 Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(7) in the round of 16 at the BMW Open in Munich on Thursday. It took the Croatian one hour and 50 minutes to beat
his opponent.
In the opening set, Cilic broke Zeballos in the fifth game and held his next service game to go ahead 4-2. Serving to stay in the set at 3-5, the Argentinean could not hold his serve, losing the set 3-6.
Cilic delivered some big serves, firing four aces and 55 percent of the first serves in the opening set. The Croatian won a whopping 92 percent of the first service points in the opening set. While, Zeballos hit two aces and committed
three double faults. The Argentinean had much better first serve percentage than his opponent as he delivered 73 percent of the first serves, converting 63 percent of them into points in the first set. The 26-year-old could save just two of the four break
points in the opening set.
Cilic and Zeballos exchanged a single break of serve in the first 12 games of the second set, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-break. The Croatian earned a late mini-break in the tie-break to win it 9-7.
The 22-year-old hit four aces and 57 percent of the first serves in the second set, winning 75 percent of the points on them. On the other hand, Zeballos served better as he kept his first serve percentage at 61 percent and won
77 percent of the points on his first serve in the second set. The Argentinean saved two of the three break points he faced in the second set.
Commenting on the match afterwards, Cilic said, "It was really positive [today]. I played a guy who can be tricky and I think I played the right shots in the crucial moments.”
The Croatian added, “It was a little bit tight in the second set tie-break, but I got my composure and I think that was really good for my confidence to win another tie-break. I hope I’ll play a little bit better tomorrow."
Cilic, ranked 21st in the world, is last year’s runner-up at BMW Open. The six feet and six inches tall lost to Russian Mikhail Youzhny in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 4-6 in the finals in 2010.
The Croatian is slated to play former world number 3, Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. Davydenko, currently ranked 40th in the world, beat world number 94 Julian Reister of Germany in three sets 3-6, 7-6(5),
6-1 in the round of 16.
Tags: