Having struggled with a knee injury in recent seasons, Marin Cilic finds himself down at No. 187 in the rankings. That did not stop the 36-year-old Croat from picking up his best win since 2022 on Tuesday afternoon.
Cilic stunned world No. 8 and No. 2 seed Alex de Minaur 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in round one of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. It marks the 2014 U.S. Open champion’s first victory over a top-10 opponent since he defeated both Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev three years ago at Roland Garros.
A four-for-four break-point conversion rate propelled Cilic to victory in two hours and 17 minutes.
“It was a great start for me,” Cilic assured. “Winning the first three games, getting a feel for the court, the conditions. It was a little bit gusty, but I was feeling the ball extremely well. I know how dangerous Alex is…. He is an incredible runner on the court, he gets some balls that nobody gets. I had to stay patient but aggressive. I’m just so pleased that I was able to keep that great level throughout the whole match.
“I haven’t had that many chances to settle in this season. Last week I played Carlos (Alcaraz) in Doha; Alex here. They’re both top-10 guys playing extremely well. It’s a great effort from me, a great sign that I’m playing really well. It’s a matter of matches for me that I can get in the match form. Hopefully I can keep the form going.”
Cilic, who fell to Alcaraz 6-4, 6-4 in the Doha first round last week, will battle Alexei Popyrin for a place in the Dubai semifinals.
With De Minaur’s exit, there are already zero seeds remaining in the entire bottom half of the draw. Rublev and Arthur Fils also lost on Tuesday, while Jack Draper withdrew prior to the tournament. Rublev beat Draper in the Doha final this past Saturday.
nice one, Cilic
What do you think it happened?
Demon can get dominated when big hitters of the tennis ball get hot
and he was probably a bit fatigued also, whether mentally or physically, and Cilic was fresh out of gates.
Fatigued?!
Demanure lost in R16 in Doha, played only two matcehes, give Cilic some credit, he was hitting from both wings so sweet and powerful that Speedy Gonzales didn’t have an answer to it, he has got no big weapons, he is looking more and more like his mentor, Hewitt.