Marin Cilic vs Janko Tipsarevic – Final Preview: St. Petersburg Open 2011
Second seeded Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia takes on fourth seeded Croat Marin Cilic in the final match of the 2011 St. Petersburg Open in St. Petersburg, Russia on Sunday, October 30th.
Enjoying the best form of his career, world number thirteen Tipsarevic is the favourite to win the match against the Croat giant. Starting the year ranked 49th in the world, the Serb has climbed his way up the rankings ladder making huge ripples along the way. Although the Serb failed to make any major mark at any of the Grand Slam events, the Serb has been a personification of consistence.
They say slow and steady wins the race, the Serb’s season in 2011 affirms this fact. With a semi-final showing at Chennai falling to Xavier Malisse and a final showing at Delray Beach losing to Juan Martin Del Potro, Tipsarevic quietly added points to his standing. Decent runs at all the Masters event save Indian Wells also added to his climb up the ladder. With another unsuccessful final run in Eastbourne, the Serb finally hit the spotlight in the fall. Other than stripping for underwear, the Serb also made a name for himself on the courts.
A semi-final showing at Montreal sandwiched between quarterfinal runs at Washington and Flushing Meadows catapulted the Serb inside the top 20. Tipsarevic won his first title of the year in the Asian swing, clinching it at Kuala Lumpur. Two weeks later, the Serb clinched his second title at Moscow with a successful defence at the 2011 Kremlin Cup. Looking for two for two in Russia, Tipsarevic moved into his first ever final at St. Petersburg.
Debuting here in 2006, the Serb is putting in only his fourth appearance with two final eight showings in 2008 and 2010. Going a step further this time around, Tipsarevic moved past Olivier Rochus, Michael Berrer, Potito Starace and Alex Bogomolov Jr. suffering only a single set loss along the way to move into the final here.
Riding his current form, Tipsarevic has a good chance of clinching his second straight title of the season as he meets Cilic on Sunday. However, the odds are stacked against the Serb. Although the Croat has produced a decent enough season with no title wins and no major impacts in any of the other events, he still holds a considerable 5-1 lead over the Serb in their career head-to-head score.
With five straight wins over the Serb, the Croat’s winning streak was finally snapped early this year in the pair’s only meeting of 2011. Tipsa enjoyed a straight sets win over the Croat in their second round match at the Sony Ericsson Open.
With only this edge over the Croat, the Serb will have to dive into his bag of tricks if he looks to undo the Croat. Also in his fourth appearance here, Cilic holds a slight edge over the Serb with a semi-final showing in 2007. In his fourth appearance here, Cilic undid local favourite, Mikhail Youzhny in the semi-final match in straight sets. Perhaps that form will carry over into the final to aid the Croat.
Prediction: Although Cilic holds five wins over the Serb in the past, Tipsa’s recent form suggests that the two players are almost evenly matched. Should the Serb bring his last week form from Moscow he will have little trouble in doing away with the Croat. However, in all scenarios, the match is expected to go into three sets. Though it’s either players game from there own.
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