Cilic Continues Charge For London With Win Over Rival

Marin Cilic is making a push to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth time this week at the Rolex Paris Masters. And the Croatian made a good start on Tuesday, defeating longtime rival Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 in just one hour and 12 minutes. 

“I’m really happy. I felt I played good tennis. I started great, served really well,” Cilic said. “Kohlschreiber is a quality player. We played this year in Indian Wells where he played a great match, he beat me there. I had to stay focused throughout the end of the match. [I had] 4-0, break point, could have gone even easier in that second set but I had to keep my head down, work until the end and play good tennis.”

For a player attempting to book his spot at The O2 in London from 11-18 November, the sixth seed did not get an easy draw against Kohlschreiber, who had previously held a 7-4 FedEx ATP Head2Head lead against the Croatian. But Cilic earned his fifth straight-sets victory against the World No. 43 to reach the third round, where he will face 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov or Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. 

It was a strong bounceback performance for Cilic, who broke Kohlschreiber three times and won 44 per cent of first-serve return points. Cilic arrived in Paris having lost four of his previous five tour-level matches. An appearance in the Bercy semi-finals would guarantee the fifth seed a spot in the season finale.

“I’m keeping my form good, feeling that I’m playing well,” Cilic said. “It’s the end of the year, a lot of challenges are coming up. We’re playing a big tournament here in Paris and I’m hoping I’m going to continue playing good tennis.”

In other action, Tokyo champion Daniil Medvedev cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. The three-time tour-level titlist, making his debut at the Paris event, dropped only one point behind his first serve (27/28) throughout the 48-minute encounter to set a second-round meeting against Rolex Shanghai Masters runner-up Borna Coric.

Medvedev’s compatriot and Russian No. 1, Karen Khachanov, advanced to the third round after just 45 minutes. The VTB Kremlin Cup winner led Matthew Ebden 6-2, 2-0 when the lucky loser was forced to retire.

In their third tour-level meeting of the season, Marton Fucsovics overcame French qualifier Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-4. The Geneva titlist earned his second FedEx ATP Head2Head victory (2-1) over Paire after 76 minutes, notching his 25th tour-level victory of the season.

Did You Know?
Cilic is bidding to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the third straight year and fourth overall. The Fever-Tree Championships winner first qualified in 2014, before back-to-back appearances in 2016 and 2017.