Marin Cilic and Jack Sock will be facing borderline must-win situations when they collide during round-robin action at the World Tour Finals on Tuesday afternoon. With both players 0-1 following their first matches, a semifinal spot will all but slip away for whoever loses again.
It is Cilic who has come out on the short end in each of their two previous encounters. Sock prevailed twice during the summer of 2016; 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 with home-court advantage in the Davis Cup quarterfinals and 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 at the U.S. Open.
Sock appeared to have gone this entire year without facing Cilic a single time, but that all changed at the Paris Masters–where he delayed the start of his offseason by two weeks. The world No. 9 needed to win the Paris title in order to have any shot at London and he also needed a lot of help from other contenders. He got both. By far the biggest title of Sock’s career propelled Sock to his debut appearance at the O2 Arena, where he had to open against Roger Federer and accounted himself well throughout a 6-4, 7-6(4) loss.
Cilic led Alexander Zverev by a break in the third set of their opening match on Sunday, but Zverev recovered to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. In two previous trips to London this season, the Croat did not lose early. He finished runner-up to Feliciano Lopez at Queen’s Club (10-8 in a third-set tiebreaker) and also reached the Wimbledon final (fell to Federer in straight sets). Cilic owns a 44-20 record in 2017 with three semifinal showings this fall plus a quarterfinal appearance in Paris.
“Probably not,” Sock said when asked if it would get easier after going up against Federer in his first match. “Since everyone here is top eight in the world, everyone is a pretty good tennis player. I don’t know. It will be different for sure. Roger puts a pressure on you that I feel no other player really does. I’ll definitely be able to hit my way into the next few matches, have some longer rallies, (and) not feel sort of the presence he puts on you when you’re out there. I’ve had wins against both (Cilic and Zverev); had losses (one loss to Zverev), as well. But at least I can take stuff away from those matches where I’ve had the wins and apply it.”
The American does not have home-court advantage this time around, so Cilic–a veteran of the World Tour Finals–should have a better chance. If the fifth seed serves well and can dictate rallies to Sock’s backhand, some revenge for last year’s setbacks may be in the cards.
Pick: Cilic in 3
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