Marin Cilic secures a commanding victory over Fabio Fognini in semis – Studena Croatia Open 2011
Fourth seed Marin Cilic floored Italian Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday to book his place in the final of 2011 ATP Studena Croatia Open in Umag. World number 31 has been in superb form over the last week or so and now he will
be bidding to become the first Croat to win this tournament since its inception in 1990.
Marin Cilic started off very aggressively as he broke his opponent in the very first game of the opening set. The Croat timed hi shots to perfection and moved on court like a hare. With strong baseline play, he created several
break opportunities for himself and then converted two of them to race to an impassable 5-1 lead. Serving brilliantly on his next service game, he took the set score lead 1-0.
The second set also followed a similar pattern as Cilic continued to dominate almost all aspects of the game. His serving was superior and he also had a better ranged of shots. Breaking the serve three times in the set, he bagged
an emphatic victory to reach the final of the Association of Tennis Professional’s tournament.
"I tried to play aggressively in certain moments when I could, and I think I played the right way," assessed Cilic. "All in all I’m really pleased with the match and that it didn’t go too long. It would be a big thing for me [if
I could win the title], because I haven’t won a title in over a year.
"Last week (in Hamburg) I played really good and this week I’ve played really good, that fills me up with a lot of confidence. Even if I don’t win it, I’m still going to feel good about it. I’ll give 100 per cent in the final tomorrow
and we’ll see how it ends." He further added.
Fognini did break back once in the second set but he lacked the firepower in certain areas of the game and he paid the heavy price for his unforced errors including eight double faults. He also won only 38 per cent of the point
son his second serve which played a big part in deciding the outcome of the match.
Cilic served with control and power as he converted an impressive 76 per cent of thwe points on his first serve. Converting five out eight break points in the match, he made most of the available chances. He will be facing number
two seed Ukrainian Alexandra Dolgopolov in the final on Sunday. Dolgopolov labored to 6-4, 6-4 victory over Spanish Juan Carlos Ferrero to reach the final.
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