Cilic Cruises In Rio de Janeiro Debut

World No. 3 Marin Cilic arrived in Rio de Janeiro seeking his first title of the 2018 ATP World Tour season. And the Croat made an impressive start, ousting qualifier Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-2 in 80 minutes to begin his campaign at the Rio Open presented by Claro on Monday evening.

Cilic is fresh off of his second championship match appearance in the past three Grand Slams at the Australian Open (l. to Federer). There is little doubt that his recent form will make the top seed a leading favourite this week in Brazil as he attempts to win a tour-level title for the 11th consecutive season.

The 29-year-old extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against the Argentine to 2-0, with their only previous meeting coming at 2011 Rome, also on clay.

Cilic dropped just three points on his first serve in the match and saved all three break points held against him. The top seed could face a tough test in the second round, as he will play the winner between recent Qatar ExxonMobil Open champion Gael Monfils and Horacio Zeballos.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

Fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas also moved forward on Monday, despite trailing 2-4 in the final set, with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory against home favourite Rogerio Dutra Silva.

The win puts the Spaniard back on track after faltering in his first match at last week’s Argentina Open against Aljaz Bedene, who advanced to the final.

Ramos-Vinolas has already reached one final this year, at the Ecuador Open in Quito. He will continue pursuing a second ATP World Tour title (2016 Bastad) against Chilean Nicolas Jarry, who ousted veteran Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-6(3).

Also in action was eighth seed Fernando Verdasco, who overcame a second-set hiccup to defeat Leonardo Mayer 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. The left-hander will face three-time Quito champion Victor Estrella Burgos or Nicolas Kicker, who advanced to the quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro last year (l. to Ramos-Vinolas).