Thanks mostly to a post-French Open hot streak, Marin Cilic is heading to London.
Cilic became the seventh man to qualify for the World Tour Finals when he beat fellow contender David Goffin 6-3, 7-6(9) during third-round action at the BNP Paribas Masters on Thursday. The 10th-ranked Croat fired 11 aces and broke his opponent four times before prevailing in one hour and 53 minutes.
Goffin served for the second set 5-3 but could not seal the deal. Soon, however, it was Cilic’s turn to squander a big opportunity. Paris’ No. 9 seed led 6-3 in the ensuing tiebreaker only to blow match points at 6-3, 6-4, and 6-5. Cilic also failed to clinch victory at 7-6 and 8-7 before finally stumbling across the finish line on his sixth match point.
“In some moments of the match, I could have done a bit better,” Goffin assured. “But he played well and he didn’t give me many opportunities.”
For Cilic, this run to the quarterfinals–and perhaps beyond, if he can upset Novak Djokovic on Friday–caps off a summer and fall stretch that includes a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon, titles in Cincinnati and Basel, and a surge by Argentina into the Davis Cup final.
“I was expecting it,” Cilic said of his confidence heading into the 2016 campaign. “That’s what I was playing for. I have been in this battle for London for a few years. You can say I’m getting experienced in that, so it’s something that is giving me a lot of confidence…. [It] was the goal of the season for me, to reach London. Obviously the top 8 is something that all the players in the world are wishing for.
“It’s one of the best tournaments in the world, for sure, to battle it out with best in that kind of a format. It’s definitely something special, so it’s great for me that I achieved it–especially in this kind of way over the past few weeks. I earned it, and that’s an even bigger plus.”
In doubles, meanwhile, Max Mirnyi and Treat Huey clinched a World Tour Finals spot in much different fashion. They earned it with solid play early in the year but have struggled of late, with quick exits from Basel and Paris that put their London status up in the air. After losing in the Paris first round to Henri Kontinen and John Peers, Mirnyi and Huey needed defending London champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau to fall before the semifinals. That is exactly what happened on Thursday, when Rojer and Tecau bowed out to a red-hot Jack Sock and fellow American Nicholas Monroe 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 in the second round.
Mirnyi is set to make his 10th appearance in the year-end championship, while Huey will be enjoying his debut at the event.
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