Archive: marin-cilic
In the first instalment of our unofficial 2014 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Awards, we look at the players who have made the biggest contribution to their nations in 2014. We will select a Top 5 but also have a few honourable mentions.
US OPEN CHAMPION MARIN CILIC TELLS CNN’S ‘OPEN COURT’ HIS FOUR MONTHS AWAY FROM TENNIS HELPED HIM ACHIEVE SUCCESS IN 2014
There had not a single three-set singles match during round-robin play involving two of the original eight World Tour Finals participants. Alternate David Ferrer played one against Kei Nishikori on Thursday, but that was the extent of it until Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic took the court on Friday. Leave it to an almost entirely meaningless match to finally provide from excitement.
The drama has been taken out of just about every singles match right from the start so far this week in London. Novak Djokovic did the same to the battle for the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Round-robin action will conclude and the semifinal matchups will be set by the time play at the World Tour Finals ends on Friday. Group A is wrapping up with Novak Djokovic vs. Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka vs. Marin Cilic. Djokovic is already almost guaranteed to advance, while Cilic is likely on the way out of London regardless of his third singles result.
If you can forgive us a moment to revel in the first three-set match when super-sub David Ferrer stepped in for an injured Milos Raonic to give Kei Nishikori a workout, we arrive at the last of the round robins, as the Group A boys being what feels like the first week of a Grand Slam to a close.
It started so promisingly, as Stan Wawrinka started with the same confident free-swinging style as he had against Tomas Berdych in the first round robin match. Surely a mate against the two winners of the first matches would yield our most competitive match to date.
Singles competition at the World Tour Finals gave us its seventh consecutive straight-setter when Tomas Berdych rolled over Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday afternoon.
Click here to see the latest results and order of play from the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Whilst it is easy to ridicule the Group A score-lines, surely Wednesday will yield at least one match with a more complex score-line? Let’s take a look at the candidates as the winners and losers do battle.
Earlier in the week an Italian journalist went on a routine of asking all the players which one of the other players they’d most like to have dinner with and what question they’d ask that player. Four — Nishikori, Cilic, Raonic, and Wawrinka — chose Roger Federer, for differing reasons.
It will be a tale of two very different matchups on Wednesday at the World Tour Finals. Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka both handed out 6-1, 6-1 breadsticks in their opening matches on Monday. The winner of their showdown will be almost--if not officially--a lock to reach the semifinals. On the other hand, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic are in dire need of a win.
Earlier in the week an Italian journalist went on a routine of asking all the players which one of the other players they'd most like to have dinner with and what question they'd ask that player. Four -- Nishikori, Cilic, Raonic, and Wawrinka -- chose Roger Federer, for differing reasons.
It’s what all the cool kids do. Such can be the lottery of ticket-buying for the World Tour Finals, you have to feel for ticket holders for either the day session, the night session or, heaven forefend, both sessions on Day 2, when the crowd were treated to two one-sided encounters that both ended in an hour (but remember, tube time, so bonus).
Four players lost their first match at the World Tour Finals. That always has been the case and always will be--barring a change in format. And every time they still have a chance to progress in the tournament and even win it. Such is the situation for Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych, and Marin Cilic.
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