Wimbledon SF Preview: Cilic v Querrey

Jul132017

Both Cilic and Querrey hope to reach their first Wimbledon final

It will be a semi-final full of firsts when seventh seed Marin Cilic and 24^th seed Sam Querrey kick off semi-final Friday at The Championships on Centre Court. Both Cilic and Querrey will be playing in their first Wimbledon semi-final.

Cilic, who had lost in the quarter-finals the past three years, broke through in a five-set battle against the big-serving left-hander Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who had advanced past Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, 15-13 in the fifth set.

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Querrey also had to work for his maiden Wimbledon semi-final, outlasting World No. 1 and two-time champion Andy Murray in five sets in the quarter-finals. Querrey became the first player to win three consecutive five-set matches at Wimbledon since Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in 2007.

“It’s a really big deal. For me, it’s my first semi-final. To beat Andy, to have it be at Wimbledon, was even a little more special,” Querrey said. “I feel good. My body feels great.”

Players to win five-set matches in three consecutive rounds at Wimbledon (Open Era)

Player	Year	Consecutive five-set matches played
Jan Kodes	1974	R64 – d. Leif Johansson; R32 – d. Dick Crealy; R16 – d. Tom Gorman; QF – l. Jimmy Connors
Russell Simpson	1982	R128 – d. John Lloyd; R64 – d. Chip Hooper; R32 – d. Marcos Hocevar
Todd Martin	1994	R32 – d. Martin Damm; R16 – d. Andre Agassi; QF – d. Wayne Ferreira
Alex Radulescu	1996	R128 – d. Arnaud Boetsch; R64 – d. Stefano Pescosolido; R32 – d. David Wheaton
Jason Stoltenberg	1998	R128 – d. Gustavo Kuerten; R64 – d. Jeff Tarango; R32 – d. Mark Woodforde
Janko Tipsarevic	2007	R128 – d. Alexander Peya; R64 – d. Florent Serra; R32 – d. Fernando Gonzalez
Sam Querrey	2017	R32 – d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; R16 – d. Kevin Anderson; QF – d. Andy Murray

Cilic, though, unlike Querrey, has Grand Slam semi-final experience. The 6’6” Croatian fell at 2010 Australian Open to Andy Murray and at 2015 US Open to Novak Djokovic. But at 2014 US Open, Cilic outplayed Roger Federer in the semi-final and went on to beat Kei Nishikori for his maiden Grand Slam crown.

“Winning the US Open has helped me in all of these Grand Slams I have played so far, and I believe it will for the rest of my career. Preparation-wise, I believe in my own abilities. I believe coming to these stages of the tournament, I’m still going to be able to play great tennis. I know I have it in me that I can win. That’s extremely important,” Cilic said. “Sam hasn’t been at this part of the tournament so far. Maybe that can have a small part in the match. But I don’t think it’s going to matter big time.”

Cilic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-0, but all four matches have gone the distance, save for their most recent, at 2015 Washington, when Cilic edged the American 7-6(2), 7-6(3).

Their 2012 third-round meeting at Wimbledon remains the second longest men’s singles match in Wimbledon history. Cilic won the fifth set 17-15 in a match that lasted five hours and 31 minutes.

“Most of the matches were very tight, quite long, especially here,” Cilic said. “I think Sam played really well this year and last year at Wimbledon. He’s got a big game that can hurt anyone in the game. For me, I have to get ready and be very focused on my own game.”

Croatian players in Grand Slam finals (Open Era)

Player	Grand Slam finals reached
Goran Ivanisevic	4 (1992, 1994, 1998, 2001 Wimbledon)
Marin Cilic	1 (2014 US Open)
Zeljko Franulovic*	1 (1970 Roland Garros)
Iva Majoli	1 (1997 Roland Garros)
Niki Pilic*	1 (1973 Roland Garros)

Franulovic and Pilic are both Croatian-born but represented Yugoslavia throughout their careers

Querrey backed up his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final run, 2016 Wimbledon, by doing one better this fortnight. If he extends his dream run to the final, he would become the first 24^th seed to reach a Grand Slam final. The California native is just the fourth No. 24 seed to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam tournament – after Sjeng Schalken at the 2002 US Open, Tommy Haas at 2009 Wimbledon and Jerzy Janowicz at 2013 Wimbledon.

Querrey is also bidding to become the first American man to reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Roddick finished runner-up at the All England Club in 2009.

“I’m going to go out there and try to keep doing what I’ve been doing these last five matches, and hopefully that will be good enough to win,” Querrey said.

The winner will top the list for the most attempts before reaching the final at Wimbledon in the Open Era, ahead of Patrick Rafter, who reached the final on his eighth appearance at SW19. This is Cilic’s 11^th Wimbledon appearance and Querrey’s 10^th.

Most attempts before reaching first Wimbledon final (Open Era)

Marin Cilic	11?
Sam Querrey	10?
Patrick Rafter	8
Tomas Berdych	7
Novak Djokovic	7
Ivan Lendl	7
Chris Lewis	7
Andy Murray	7
Mark Philippoussis	7
Cedric Pioline	7
Roscoe Tanner	7
MaliVai Washington	7

Should Querrey win on Friday and reach his first Grand Slam final on his 42^nd appearance at a major, he would also join David Ferrer at the top of the list for most attempts before reaching the final at a major in the Open Era.

Most attempts before reaching first Grand Slam final (Open Era)