Cilic, Murray Square Off For Cincy Title

World No. 2 Andy Murray plays his 14th match in 15 days – with a globe-trotting trip from Rio de Janeiro to Cincinnati in between — when he meets Marin Cilic for the Western & Southern Open title on Sunday. Should he win his 13th ATP Masters 1000 title, Murray will inch within 815 points of Novak Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Race to London, which determines the year-end World No. 1.

Murray has enjoyed milestone after milestone since beginning his Rio campaign on August 7. The Scot played nine matches in eight days at the Olympics, including men’s doubles with older brother Jamie Murray and mixed doubles with Heather Watson. He edged Juan Martin del Potro in four hours and two minutes on August 14 to become the first two-time singles gold medalist in history.

After beating Juan Monaco in his opener this week, Murray defeated Kevin Anderson on Thursday for his 600th career win, Bernard Tomic on Friday for his 200th ATP Masters 1000 victory and Milos Raonic on Saturday for his 50th win of the season. Murray’s third Western & Southern Open title would be his 40th singles championship overall and the 19th consecutive ATP Masters 1000 crown won by himself, Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal (The Big Four).

The 29-year-old Djokovic is the youngest player to win an ATP Masters 1000 title — born a week after Murray in May 1987. Cilic, 27, could change all that to cap the greatest showing of his career at this level. Entering Cincinnati, Cilic had never reached an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in 70 appearances. He was 0-8 lifetime in ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final matches. And his only two titles since reigning at the 2014 US Open came at the ATP World Tour 250 event in Moscow.

In the doubles final, ATP Masters 1000 Toronto champions Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo meet ATP Masters 1000 Madrid champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. The teams split two meetings in 2015 – Dodig and Melo winning en route to the Roland Garros championship before Rojer and Tecau avenged themselves during their title run at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

FEDEX ATP HEAD 2 HEAD – Singles Final
[1] Andy Murray (GBR) vs [12] Marin Cilic (CRO) – Murray Leads 11-2 Murray 2016 FastFacts
• Tournament Note: Owns a 22-0 record since Roland Garros and 33-1 since ATP Masters 1000 Madrid
• Captured 3rd Grand Slam title at Wimbledon (d. Tsonga in 5 sets, No. 9 Berdych and No. 7 Raonic)
• Became 1st British finalist at Roland Garros and 10th man to reach all 4 major finals in Open Era (l. to Djokovic)
• Fell to 0-5 in Australian Open finals with 4th championship match loss to No. 1 Djokovic
• With J. Murray, became 1st brothers in Open Era to reach singles and doubles finals at same major (Aus. Open)
• Made history at Rio Olympics as 1st player to win a 2nd singles gold medal (d. del Potro 75 in 4th after 4h2m)
• Celebrated 29th birthday by beating No. 1 Djokovic for 12th ATP Masters 1000 title at Rome
• Defeated No. 8 Berdych and No. 5 Nadal en route to ATP Masters 1000 Madrid final (l. to No. 1 Djokovic)
• Rallied from 76 30 down to beat No. 9 Raonic and become 1st 5-time London/Queen’s Club champion (est. 1890)
• Extended Davis Cup win streak to 14 matches with 3 victories to lead Great Britain past Japan 3-1 in 1R

Cilic 2016 FastFacts
• Tournament Note: Rallied for 46 63 75 win over Dimitrov in rain-delayed SF match that ended Sunday at 1:35 am
• Advanced to 3rd straight Wimbledon QF, falling to No. 3 Federer after leading by 2 sets and holding 3 MPs
• Reached finals at Marseille (l. to Kyrgios) and Geneva (d. Ferrer, l. to No. 4 Wawrinka)
• Also reached London/Queen’s Club SF (l. to No. 2 Murray in 3 sets) and Rio Olympics 3R (l. to Monfils in 3 sets)
• Fell to 0-8 lifetime in ATP Masters 1000 QFs at Indian Wells (l. to Goffin) – now 1-8 after beating Coric on Friday
• Snapped 11-match losing streak vs. Top 10 opponents with win over No. 10 Gasquet in Indian Wells 4R
• Helped Croatia reach Davis Cup SF with 3-2 wins over Belgium (d. Coppejans, l. to Goffin) and USA (l. to Sock after
leading by 2 sets, w/Dodig d. Bryan/Bryan, d. Isner)
• Withdrew from ATP Masters 1000 events at Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome due to knee injury