CILIC POWERS INTO FINAL
Croatian ends Edmund’s fairytale run, Simona faces Caroline in title showdown
MARIN Cilic dominated British hope Kyle Edmund in straight sets yesterday to become the first Croatian to reach the final of the Australian Open.
The World No 6 powered into his third Grand Slam decider with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win on Rod Laver Arena over the unseeded Edmund to be the first man into Sunday’s final.
He will face either defending champion Roger Federer or unseeded South Korean Chung Hyeon, who play today.
“Overall I’m feeling really good,” Cilic said. “Now I have two days off before the final.
“I noticed in the third game of the third set, when I broke him, he just let a couple of balls go past him.
“So I realised his movement was a little bit restricted, so I just tried to move the ball around and obviously that second break was extremely crucial.”
It was an emphatic performance by the 2014 US Open champion, who broke Edmund’s serve four times and nullified the Briton’s powerful forehand.
The victory ensured that he will rise to a career-high of three when the new rankings come out on Monday.
Cilic will be only the second player outside the ‘Big Four’ of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Federer to reach the Melbourne final since Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008 decider.
He lost to Federer in last year’s Wimbledon final, but beat the 19time Grand Slam champion in the semi-finals on the way to his US Open triumph.
Cilic trails the Swiss ace 8-1, but leads Hyeon 3-0 in their meetings.
Despite losing it was a breakthrough tournament for Edmund, the only British man in this year’s field after five-time finalist Andy Murray’s injury withdrawal.
He became only the fourth British man to reach the Australian Open semi-finals in the post-1968 Open Era.
Meanwhile, Simona Halep survived a three-set thriller against Angelique Kerber to set up a winner-takes-all Australian Open final against Caroline Wozniacki, where the No 1 ranking will be on the line.
Simona said for a fleeting moment she thought “everything had gone” when facing two Angelique match points before battling past the former champion 6-3, 4-6, 9-7.
But the tenacious Simona stayed alive to put her No 1 ranking up for grabs in the showdown against the No 2 seed, with both desperate to win a maiden Grand Slam title.
“Definitely was very tough. I’m shaking now,” said Simona, who saved the match points at 5-6 on Angelique’s serve in the third set.
She confessed she wasn’t sure how she did it.
“I don’t remember, but I didn’t think about the score. I just took point by point. I had actually two moments when I felt that the match was over,” she said.
“I had no power anymore and everything is gone. I didn’t give up, which meant a lot, and that’s how I won the match.”
Caroline beat unseeded Belgian Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) after a late wobble when she was broken serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
“Halep, just like me, was down match points early on in the tournament,” said Caroline. “I think it’s exciting because we’re both playing for the number one ranking.”