Marin Cilic and Kyle Edmund will be squaring off for the second time in their careers and for the second time in less than four months when they battle for a place in the Australian Open final on Thursday night. Cilic won their only previous meeting 6-3, 7-6(5) last fall on the hard courts of Shanghai.
From the second round of a Masters 1000 tournament to the semifinals of a major, it is safe to say the stakes have skyrocketed for Edmund. And they are stakes for which the 23-year-old has never played in his career. He had never previously advanced past the fourth round of a Grand Slam and his career-ranking is No. 40 in the world (he currently registers at 49th). Edmund almost did not even survive the opening round of this one. At the mercy of the draw as an unseeded floater, Edmund ran into world No. 12 and 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Kevin Anderson right off the bat but managed to engineer a five-set upset. He also needed five sets against Nikoloz Basilashvili in round three to go along with four-set victories over Andreas Seppi and third-ranked Grigor Dimitrov. Only Denis Istomin was disposed of in straight sets during second-round action.
“I am loving it right now; just the way I’m playing,” Edmund said after upsetting Dimitrov in the quarterfinals. “I’m 23 years old, (in) my first Grand Slam semifinal; first time I played on one of the biggest courts in the world. To beat a quality of player like Grigor…of course, all these things I’m aware of. They’re great feelings. You don’t obviously play in the semifinals of a Grand Slam every day, or (even) a quarters.
“So, yeah, I just try to enjoy it as much as possible. I knew I was in a good place (going into the quarters). There’s no reason why my tennis wasn’t good enough to win. It’s obviously about going out there and doing it.”
Cilic is no stranger to doing it big at Grand Slams. The 6’6” Croat captured the U.S. Open title in 2014 and he went all the way to the Wimbledon final in 2017 before losing to Roger Federer. Following an injury-plagued second half of last season, Cilic is back in business now. He has advanced so far in Melbourne with defeats of Vasek Pospisil, Joao Sousa, Ryan Harrison, Pablo Carreno Busta, Rafael Nadal–the latter via a fifth-set retirement on Tuesday.
“I’m going to prepare for [this] match like for any other one,” Cilic explained. “Kyle (has) had amazing run here–a lot of tough matches, played great tennis. He’s also very entertaining to watch; big hitter, great serve, great forehand–plays great on the hard courts.
“For me, (it’s) another good opportunity. Obviously on the paper (it’s) probably easier to play him than Rafa. But still he deserved a lot to be here at the spot where he is. For me a big focus is to continue with my own game. I cannot influence him much across the net, but (I’m) going to try to take care of my things on my part of the court. Hopefully I’m going to have another great match.”
There is no reason to think anything other than a great performance by Cilic will be the case. The world No. 6 has been on this stage multiple times in the past and up tot this point at Melbourne Park he has been showcasing the level that was on display during his run to the U.S. Open winner’s trophy four years ago. Edmund has the big-hitting game that can go toe to toe with Cilic, but experience may be the overriding factor in this one.
Pick: Cilic in 4
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