Cilic Continues Title Pursuit In Adelaide
Marin Cilic continued his impressive start to the season Thursday, moving past American Tommy Paul 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the Adelaide International 2.
The fourth seed produced a strong serving performance, firing 14 aces and winning 84 per cent (38/45) of points behind his first delievery to advance after one hour and 56 minutes and improve to 2-0 in their ATPHead2Head series.
[FOLLOW ACTION]The Croatian enjoyed a run to the last four at the Adelaide International 1 last week and will next face Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis as he aims to go one step further at the ATP 250 event. The former World No. 3 has now won four of his five matches in 2022.
Kokkinakis rallied from a set down to claw past countryman Aleksandar Vukic 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 16 minutes. Kokkinakis also reached the last four in Adelaide last week.
Third-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov, who beat Cilic in Adelaide last week, suffered a surprise defeat against World No. 58 Arthur Rinderknech. The Frenchman overcame Khachanov 7-6(7), 7-5 in one hour and 43 minutes to reach his second tour-level semi-final (Kitzbühel 2021).
Rinderknech broke Khachanov twice en-route to victory and will next play countryman Corentin Moutet after the qualifier downed lucky loser Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 45 minutes. It is the third time the World No. 115 has reached the semi-finals at a tour-level event.