Marin Cilic and Sam Querrey will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers when they square off in a surprising Wimbledon semifinal on Friday.
All four of their previous encounters have gone Cilic’s way, but all three of their grass-court contests–including two at the All-England Club–have gone the distance. The Croat prevailed 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 in 2009 and 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(13), 17-15 in 2012 to go along with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in the 2012 Queen’s Club semis.
As those two Wimbledon results suggest, Querrey is no stranger to five-setters in SW19. In fact, he survived three in a row–the seventh, eighth, and ninth five-setters of his Wimbledon career–to book his spot alongside Cilic in the final four. The 28th-ranked American followed up more routine wins over Thomas Fabbiano and Nikoloz Basilashvili by outlasting Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kevin Anderson, and Andy Murray. Querrey trailed Murray by two sets to one on Wednesday but took advantage of a hobbled world No. 1 to eventually triumph 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-1.
Although this matchup is a surprising one, it has not exactly come out of nowhere. Wimbledon, after all, is high on the list of favorite tournaments for both players. Querrey also reached the quarterfinals last year and Cilic has advanced to at least the quarterfinals four years in a row. The sixth-ranked Croat finally got over that hump and punched a ticket to the semis by holding off Gilles Muller 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 on Wednesday. He had previously not dropped a single set in defeats of Philipp Kohlschreiber, Florian Mayer, Steve Johnson, and Roberto Bautista Agut.
This matchup between two players with similar styles is not a great one for Querrey, who may only have an edge in the serving department. But Cilic has been serving incredibly well this fortnight, with 70 aces to only seven double-faults in his first four matches and 32 more aces against Muller. The No. 7 seed has more firepower off the ground–especially off the backhand side–and does a superior job of finishing points around the net.
Additionally, Cilic has more experience at this stage of majors and even won the U.S. Open 2014. Querrey’s run has been an amazing one, but this is likely where it ends.
Pick: Cilic in 4
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who ya got?
Cilic in 3, both are obviously strong servers but I think he’ll find it easier to break.
Cilic in five
Cilic in four or five, I think four most likely. He’s in better form than Querrey, Querrey had to play two five setters before reaching the SF, whilst Cilic straight set everyone before the QF. The win over tough opponent Muller should give Cilic even more confidence, that he could handle big serving Querrey.
I’m with you, lucky- I’m thinking Cilic in 4. Maybe they will have 5-set epic round III, but probably not. I think that in order for Querrey to win, he will have to be on fire and Cilic’s level has to drop…
I am thinking Cilic in four or five sets. Querrey has had tough five setters, so we don’t know how much he has left. Cilic needs to stay focused mentally and not go walkabout.
But I do expect Cilic to prevail.
The loser of this match will actually be the winner as he won’t have to look so inept against Roger in the final.
Great 🙂
At this stage of a grand slam pedigree becomes a huge factor. Does Querrey have the pedigree to make a grand slam final when he’s historical best has been 3rd or 4th round?
Unfortunately for him, Cilic got a taste of some nice pressure against Muller and had to dig deep to win. That pressure and the mindset required to handle it will be fresh in his mind so there will be no surprises for Cilic, he’ll be ready. A ready Cilic will bring his focused best and win this in 3, maybe 4 sets against Querrey that will be start to experience mental, physical and emotional fatigue after several grueling matches against high quality opponents.
Cilic in 3
Cilic in 4
Cilic in four sets,with at least two tiebreaks.
I fancy Big Sam to take a set but Cilic looks pretty solid and should win. Will be a tough one for Fed too. No need to ascribe divine mastery to the latter.
Let the fairy tale continue….Querry in 4.
on paper is Cilic. however wish to see Sam going to final.
it would be more interesting to watch one who has beaten two defending champions in a row facing 7 times champion in a final.
it has been long no American in a slam final.
Cilic game is not beautiful to watch, does not offer much entertainment.
Querrey’s is even more aweful, worse than ‘not beautiful’.
Querrey has absolutely no chance against Fed, more so in a slam final! He barely scraped past an injured Murray, you expect him to give the 7 times champion any challenge in the final?
At least Cilic offers some hope of an upset in the final, he’s a slam holder, and almost beat Fed last year in the QF, so anything is possible for him; at least he will offer stiffer challenge to the 7 time champion.
Totally agree! A Querrey-Fed final would be a disaster – for Querrey of course! Cilic is much more talented than Querrey and he has at least the tools for making it competitive in the final. And he’s a bit more experienced on the grand stage. He beat Fed in the semis when he won the US Open 2014. He also almost beat Fed in the quarterfinal at Wimby last year. It’s highly unlikely but not impossible that in the final he will make Fed’s life a bit less comfortable. But Fed’s run resembles more and more Rafa’s run to the title without losing a set at RG. The funny thing is: unlike Rafa who looked unbeatable at the FO, so far Fed hasn’t looked unbeatable. Maybe I’m biased, but my impression was that no player could’ve beaten Rafa at RG this year. But while Fed has been playing great so far, I also had the feeling that a number of players could’ve made it much more competitive and Fed was lucky that he didn’t have to play them. Also, the main competitors are out because they weren’t healthy. A healthy Andy or Novak would’ve had definitely a chance against Fed.
Could Rafa have beaten Fed if he had made it into the final? It would’ve been possible but unlikely IMO.
Berdych has no chance whatsoever against Fed.
Littlefoot, the way Rafa was playing – no chance vs Fed. I watched the Rafa/Muller match again, Rafa was nervous from the get go, served poorly by his recent standard; served poorly in the game in set one which he lost his serve.
Rafa was basically playing from behind the baseline, not a good strategy when playing on grass. I do agree that Fed wasn’t all conquering, unlike Rafa at the FO; Rafa didn’t even have any lapses throughout all his matches there! Fed had his, though he didn’t look shaky, just a blip but players like Dimi and Raonic couldn’t capitalize.
Fed had Dolgo in R1 but Dolgo was off form and he was injured, if not he could be a tricky R1 opponent. Dimi was the most disappointing of all his opponents; there were some games where he was ahead if I’m not wrong, but his BH and his footwork were so poor that he kept netting his sliced BHs. I mean if you’re making errors and errors with your BH, why not work harder on your legs, ran around to hit your FH? Dimi basically had no strategy, just defending against Fed’s attacks, and Fed as a 35 yo was even quicker on his feet than a guy who’s ten years younger!
Raonic was off form and tried as he might, he’s no where near to Fed in terms of his foot speed, half the time a step slow to get to the ball and Fed wasn’t making it easy for him, hitting the ball at any corner possible making Raonic scrambling all over the place to retrieve it.
Raonic played a net rushing game but his was no where near to Fed’s, and Fed could hit his passing shots to overcome Raonic at the net. Raonic’s serve couldn’t trouble Fed too when Fed could block it back, Raonic winning only about 60+% on his first serve. Contrast that to Muller’s for e.g., Muller won 90+% of his first serve at one stage during his match vs Rafa. Muller hit his spots so well, varied the way he served, I feel even if Fed were to play against him and trying to block back those serves, Fed won’t have that much success either. Moreover Muller had a solid enough baseline game to back up his net rushing game, and he knew exactly where to move to after each serve, anticipating well where the returns are coming back to, and was there on time, impressive for a 34 yo.
For Berdych to have any chance, slim as it may be, he has to stay close to the baseline, serves big and hammering his ground strokes as hard as possible without compromising his precision, to push Fed back behind the baseline. It Berdych rushes the net, I feel that’s the end of him. Fed would certainly throw in dropshots to snare Berdych away from the baseline, so Berdych has to be ready to rush for them.
All in all not looking good for Berdych, Fed most probably will win, it’s a matter of what’s the score line.
Re: Rafa on Grass – I would agree that Rafa has to play close to the baseline to do better, but is he going to be comfortable there? He might be able to play like that with enough preparation, but otherwise I think he’s just not very comfortable there, and that’s one of his few big problems. Ideally he would probably have a solid block of time spent working on the grass ROS, but playing a long clay season that ends shortly before grass makes it hard.
Yeah TWD, agreed. Moreover, Rafa hadn’t played on grass for a good two years before this Wimbledon, he had to get used to playing on grass first.
In 2008,Rafa had made the transition from clay to grass very well, winning at Queen’s in the week that followed immediately the FO, that was impressive considering the fact that he’s moving from his fave surface to one which was less favorable. In that year, he was playing close to the baseline on grass, and both he and Fed were practically playing a baseline game at the Wimbledon final.
Rafa has to relearn how to play on grass, perhaps during the off season, goes to the grass practice court at the Mallorca Open to train and get used to moving and hitting on grass. I do feel Rafa really needs to work on his serve if he wants to succeed on grass. The serve is the main and major weapon on grass; we saw how a great serve helped Muller on grass, that he was able to win so much on grass and even winning long five sets matches without being physically exhausted by them.
We should post about Rafa Nadal at the Nadal player page. We’ll discuss about him some other time.
I agree, Müller’s showing throughout the tournament was impressive, especially considering his age. We knew he could be dangerous but we thought that he couldn’t keep it up in a best-of-five match. Well, we have been wrong 🙁
The version of Rafa who played against Müller would’ve had no chance against Fed indeed. It’s a pity because Rafa was in the best shape in ages at Wimby. But I suspect all those previous losses against big servers have left scars and he is simply not as confident as necessary anymore, even after three very impressive matches.
Littlefoot, we’ll discuss about Rafa at the Nadal player page some other time. Watching the SF now. Querrey is serving and hitting very well now, a tight contest so far.
If you look at their head to head all their grass court matches have gone the difference. If cilic starts slow I like him in 5. Otherwise in 4. Final prediction is cilic in 5
Distance*
Everyone including this article http://www.138mph.com/wimbledon-thursdays-recap-and-fridays-predictions/ says Cilic but I suspect an upset and a Sam Querrey win
Cilic is mentally weak! Even if he beats Sam which he will due to Sam’s high UE record he will go down to Fed in an easy way…Birdman will be a tougher competition for Fed than Cilic..,
Cilic looks so nervous whilst Querrey looks cool, advantage Querrey!
As I said, Cilic donates first set to Sam. What a mental midget…however, Sam did not beat red hot Nole last year for no reason! He also beat Rafa to steal the title from him! Sam knows how to be strong mentally…will he keep this up reamains to be seen…Sam should slice Cilic more often as Cilic is so weak in that department…also Cilic at the net is a joke…I could only imagine what Fed would do to Cilic with his masterpiece slices and drop shots should they meet in the finals…
Actually Cilic can play better than this; it’s just that he’s too nervous and starts making all those errors. It’s a SF and he’s already so nervous, imagine when he’s in the final! He must be desparate in wanting to win here.
Querrey OTOH, looks very comfortable out there, it’s like he’s playing with nothing to lose. Querrey is the better player in this match, so far.
What a dumb game by Cilic, and he got broken back! Querrey getting better again in this third set, probably getting a breather and now fighting back. I think he’s still the better player in this match, just looks a bit tired. If Querrey gets to the final, he’ll lose in straight sets when he’s already feeling tired in the SF.
cannot underestimate Sam. He has the iron will to repeatedly beat slam winners and in the slam. no small feat for player out of top 20.
if he gets in to the final there and mentally ready, Fed would have to earn it if he is also in the final.
Watch Querrey win lol. That would be awesome ??
Sam saids sam will win
You’re most likely mistaken, lol!
But I have to admit: Querrey is gritty!
I still believe Cilic can win…He will break Sam in the end..while sam will surrender due to physical and mental fatigue and will make more and more errors…
Cilic physically in better conditions, Querrey mentally better.
Though both are servebots, this match is still very interesting because they both are more than just servebots, some good rallies and some great hittings too! Quite an entertaining match!
Phew! So close, glad Cilic manages to come through that TB and he’s now 2-1.
C’mon Marin!!..1 more set!!Pweeeasee!!
I have a feeling this SF is and will be more entertaining than the next SF, despite Fed’s presence there.
Come on Cilic, what are you doing??? A little bit of a lapse and you get broken! Come on, break back!
The way Querrey is playing, I think he has better chances in the final; he’s playing an intelligent game, stepping inside the court more often; whilst Cilic is camping further and further away from the baseline.
I really hope Cilic can win this and reaches the final, but Cilic is looking less and less likely to have chances to lift the trophy on final day.
Querrey has NO chance in a final against Fed, lol! The question is if Cilic will fare better. I still think the answer is yes, he probably will. Players play differently in different matches and situations. Cilic had the tools for troubling Fed, and he’s done it before. But Querrey is a pesky opponent with nothing to lose…
Lucky!C’mon!!Be positive!!…Cilic is still leading 2 sets to 1…and he just broke Sam back!…Don’t write him off yet okay?
Woohohoho!!….Yes!!…C’mon Marin!…Stay strong!!
Mira Andi 🙂
Littlefoot!…http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sMFdSYRY224/VpDoQGXKn7I/AAAAAAAAHgU/90-qckZyMu8/s1600/OK-smiley.png
MA, thanks!
Now, let’s see what the next semi has in store for us. This one was very entertaining.
Yeah littlefoot!…But i doubt Berd will give Rog much trouble…he usually choke when faced with the Big 4…
You are probably right. When did Berdych win against Fed the last time?
I do know that he won against Roger at Wimby 2010. That’s seven years ago, lol! Hard to believe that Fed and Rafa are still going strong…
Berdych could’ve had a better career – but I did like his tweets 🙂 He’s certainly not the Birdbrain some people make him out.
Cilic showing some mental toughness here. It looked like Sam was going to win the fourth set. But Cilic is fighting hard for this.
I thought it would go four or five sets. It’s turned out to be a good one. Well done to both guys.
Cilic is serving out of his mind.
Cilic wins!
Break 40 0..hmm…looks like your man is not so weak mentally after all Lucky!
Right MA, Cilic showed a lot of heart and determination against a pesky and gritty opponent. Well done, both guys!
Cilic is a worthy finalist. It would be great if he could emulate Goran on Sunday.
Yeah littlefoot!!…I think he will give Rog a very stern test this sunday!…he’s soooo confident atm…it would be nice if he can add his 2nd slams to his tally…can’t wait to see the final…
Wooohooohohohohohohoho!!….Yes Cilic won!!….Credit to Sam as well for giving us a very exciting match!….Look out Rog!!…You’ve got a competition in Cilic!!
Three consecutive errors from Querrey and Cilic now has MP. Come on Cilic!
Yes!!! Vamos Marin!! ?
Into the final!! Yay!!
Nothing against Querrey, who played a great tournament – although he profitted from Murray’s sore hip. But a Querrey-Fed final would’ve been a very one-sided affair. Cilic just might be able to make it a match.
Great win for Marin, being down a break in the 4th. If he plays Fed in the final, I think it has potential to be a 5-set epic like last year! He certainly won’t be able to afford to get broken a couple times like he did today. If he plays Berdych in the final, I think it’s definitely going to be a Wimbledon title for Marin…
Cilic was heartbroken last year after he lost the 5-set epic. I’m not sure if that helps or hinders him if he will get the opportunity for revenge. But first Fed will have to make the final. Let’s see what Berdych is able to bring to the table…
Querrey is playing well, gritty as well. He’s calm and cool too, probably just a bit tired. Commies to him, but I’m not complaining when Marin can be in the final.
As I said, this match is very entertaining with some great jottings, big servings and deft touches. I hope Marin brings his best to the final, and calms his nerve. Vamos Marin Cilic!
*great hitting, (what’s with auto correct!)