MARIN CILIC’S SURPRISE TITLE AT CINCINNATI TENNIS MASTERS GIVES HIM TOP EIGHT SEED FOR THE U.S. OPEN IN NEW YORK CITY

Written by: Staff on 22nd August 2016

Western and Southern Open tennis tournament

MARIN CILIC'S SURPRISE TITLE AT CINCINNATI TENNIS MASTERS GIVES HIM TOP EIGHT SEED FOR THE U.S. OPEN IN NEW YORK CITY

epa05506004 Marin Cilic of Croatia celebrates with the Rookwood Cup after defeating Andy Murray of Great Britain in the final of the Western & Southern Open tennis championships at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 21 August 2016. EPA/TANNEN MAURY |

By Ricky Dimon

Marin Cilic captured the first Masters 1000 title of his career on Sunday, when he upset Andy Murray 6-4, 7-5 in the Western & Southern Open final. Cilic took control right from the start and ended up getting the job done in one hour and 35 minutes.

It was a surprising result, and not just because Murray was the No. 1 seed and the second-ranked player in the world. Whereas the Scot had cruised through his entire Cincinnati campaign, Cilic did not finish his semifinal against Grigor Dimitrov until 1:35 in the morning.

“I thought I was going to have a good chance if I played well,” the Croat commented. “I didn’t feel too tired yesterday in the evening…. I went to sleep around 4:00 and woke up a little bit before 11:00. That was enough to recover.

“I felt that I played really good tennis today. The serve was a big factor in my game. I was hitting a lot of big serves in important points and I was definitely very mentally strong in that second set. Andy was starting to play a bit better, but it’s definitely a huge win against him. He’s been on a great run the past couple of months.”

Andy Murray of Great Britain hits a return shot to Marin Cilic of Croatia during the final of the Western & Southern Open tennis championships at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 21 August 2016. EPA/TANNEN MAURY

To be exact, Murray had won 22 matches in a row–a number that also featured titles at Queen’s Club, Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics. But he trailed Cilic by two breaks almost right away and could only get one of the breaks back in the first set. When Murray dropped serve again at 5-5 in the second, it was all but over.

“I’m very proud of this week,” Murray assured. “Obviously today it didn’t go how I would’ve wanted. But I certainly didn’t expect to get to the final when I arrived here. I had some pretty good wins along the way. Today there were tough, tricky conditions with the wind…. But it’s a very, very positive week. I’m looking forward to a few days’ rest now.”

After that rest, it will be on to the U.S. Open for Murray–who triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2012. He will be seeded second for the next fortnight behind world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who skipped Cincinnati after losing his Olympic opener to Juan Martin Del Potro.

Cilic, meanwhile, snagged an all-important top eight seed in New York by virtue of his performance in Cincinnati. He climbed five spots in the rankings to No. 9 and will be seeded seventh due to the absences of Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych.

Cilic’s rise booted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga out of a top eight U.S. Open seed.