Marin Cilic prevails over Albert Ramos in the quarter-finals – German Tennis Championships 2012
Seeded fourth in the draw, Croatia’s Marin Cilic defeated the world number 46, Albert Ramos of Spain, in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(5) in the quarter-finals of the Bet-at-home Open on Friday. The encounter lasted for one hour and 57
minutes. The event is also called German Tennis Championships, being held on the clay courts in Hamburg.
Cilic is in top form these days, as he captured two titles in the last three tournaments he played. He captured the AEGON Championships on the grass courts of the Queen’s Club, after the controversial incident, when David Nalbandian
was defaulted for hitting the line judge in the final. The Croatian lost to world number four, Andy Murray, in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Last week, Cilic outplayed Spain’s Marcel Granollers in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to win his home event, VEGETA Croatia
Open.
In the latest match, the first half of the opening set went smoothly, as Cilic and Ramos held their serve in the first six games, equalising the score at 3-3. Ramos was first to take lead, as he secured a breakthrough in the seventh
to move up 4-3 but the Spaniard failed to capitalise on that and levelled the proceedings at 4-4. Serving to stay in the contention at 4-5, Ramos could not hold his serve, throwing away the set 4-6.
The start of the second set was completely in contrast to the opener, as Cilic and Ramos exchanged a couple of strikes in the opening six games to take the score to 3-3. The rest of the proceedings went with the serve to even it
out at 6-6, forcing a tie-breaker. They went on equal terms till 3-3, however, Cilic pressed the accelerator afterwards, as he captured four of the next six points, winning it 7-6(5).
Cilic made the most of his big serves, hitting six aces and claiming 29 of the 41 first delivery points. The Croatian utilised four of the seven break opportunities he created and put away two of the five he came across.
The 23-year-old will lock horns with the former world number two, Tommy Haas, in the semi-finals.
After the match, Cilic said, "Some days you have to battle through, but I'm enjoying it and hopefully tomorrow I can play a good match. [Haas] has played really well throughout the week. We played in the Munich semi-finals, which
was a tough match. Here, he has the home support so it will be interesting."
This will be the third meeting between Cilic and Haas, being tied at 1-1 in the head to head series.
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