Marin Cilic survives against Marinko Matosevic in the first round – US Open 2012
Croatia’s 12th seeded player, Marin Cilic fought back after getting two sets to love down to oust the world number 62, Marinko Matosevic of Australia, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round of US Open on Monday.
Cilic and Matosevic held their serve in the first three games to take the score to 2-1 in favour of the latter. The Australian stung a break in the fourth to move ahead 3-1 but Cilic broke back in the very next game to equalise
the score at 3-3. The following five games went with serve, taking the proceedings to 6-5 in favour of Matosevic. The Australian pressurised Cilic’s serve to break him and win 7-5.
The start of second set was just like the first, as both players did not drop serve in the opening three games to take the score to 2-1 in favour of the Australian contender. Matosevic struck in the fourth and this time he consolidated
on it to go up 4-1. Serving to stay in the set at 2-5, Cilic could not hold and lost it 2-6.
Matosevic and Cilic begin more steadily in the third set as compared to the first two, as they won their serve in the first four games to level the score at 2-2. The Croatian star earned a breakthrough in the fifth and made the
most of it to triumph 6-4.
The proceedings at the start of the fourth set went exactly in the same way as the second set but this time they were in Cilic’s favour. The Croatian snatched a break in the third and fifth game and capitalised on the double advantage
to seal it 6-2.
Cilic and Matosevic did not allow each other to strike in the first six games of the decider, squaring off the proceedings at 3-3. The Croatian player hit a blow to his Australian opponent in the seventh and held his subsequent
serve to gain a 5-3 lead. Matosevic could not stage a comeback and went down 4-6.
The Croatian contestant will now take on Daniel Brands of Germany in the round two.
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