Marin Cilic proceeds to third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters; Pere Riba retires from match
World Number 22 Marin Cilic scored an easy entry into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters, as his Spanish opponent Pere Riba succumbed to injuries in the first set. The match was all over in less than half an hour, with
Cilic comfortably in the lead at 5-2.
Cilic played an easy match against Riba, as they met on Court Nine of the clay court stadium. The two players had never competed against each other, and it did not take long to see that Cilic was determined to win their first match.
He broke the Spaniard at 3-2, dropping only two points on his way to this result. Riba appeared to lag behind from the beginning of the match, as his Croatian opponent served out four aces in two games. Cilic raced ahead to a 5-2 lead, breaking Riba twice
and forcing him to defend himself against six more break points. Riba himself only scored two points in three return games.
At this point, Pere Riba decided to call it quits as a consequence of an injured right knee. This gave Cilic an easy way into the third round of the 2011 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo.
Marin Cilic is currently ranked Number 22, and hails from Croatia. He is 22 years old, and has been part of the Association of Tennis Professionals since 2005. He once made it as far as World Number 9, back in 2010. The player,
who has spent over half a decade as a pro, has won five career titles in the course of these years. The first of his titles came in 2008, when he won the New Haven tournament, held out hard courts. The Croat has produced great results on this surface, winning
the Zagreb and Chennai titles two times in a row in 2009 and 2010. Both these tournaments are also played on hard courts. Besides this, he has made it to the title match of four tournaments. His most recent final showing was earlier this year at the Marseille
event.
Cilic will be facing a much tougher challenge in the third round of the tournament, as he takes on World Number 3 Roger Federer tomorrow.
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