Zverev win adds to Cilic’s woeful run at ATP Finals
Marin Cilic’s miserable record at the ATP Finals continued as he was beaten 7-6, 7-6 by Germany’s Alexander Zverev yesterday – his ninth defeat in 10 round-robin matches at the O2 Arena.
Almost a year to the day since Zverev marked his debut in the season-ending showpiece by toppling the big-serving Croat, the 21-year-old Zverev again prevailed as he took his career record over Cilic to 6-1 in the Group Guga Kuerten.
Cilic, ranked two places below world No 5 Zverev, will be scratching his head at how he allowed an opening set in which he dominated to slip through his fingers.
The 30-year-old had point for a 4-0 lead and another one for 5-1 but allowed Zverev to claw his way back to take the tiebreak, sealing it with a backhand pass. Breaks of serve were exchanged in the second set before Cilic was required to save a match point at 4-5.
Cilic survived more Zverev pressure at 5-6, winning a long baseline exchange at 30-30 to set up another tiebreak.
Just as in the day’s first shootout it was Zverev who jumped into a lead against an edgy Cilic who double-faulted at 1-4.
Zverev nailed a trademark backhand winner down the line to earn five more match points and converted the first with a powerful first serve that Cilic could only fend into net.
Zverev said of his success: “I just wanted to fight back from every score.
“He was up a break in both sets but it was a very important match, you don’t want to start the group stages with a defeat so it’s a very important win.”
Zverev added he had found the court conditions a challenge and it hard to find any initial consistency. “It’s very fast,” he added of the surface. “It’s definitely one of the quickest courts we have on tour. It’s tough to find your rhythm on it.” Meanwhile, in today’s action, Roger Federer will seek to keep his hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages from Group Lleyton Hewitt in his own hands when he goes up against Dominic Thiem tonight. The world No 3 was below par when he lost to Kei Nishikori in his opening round match on Sunday.
Federer would not be eliminated if he lost to Thiem, in the game that starts at midnight UAE time, but it would mean he would need other results to go in his favour for him to reach the semi-finals.
Federer, unlike Zverev, felt the court was playing slow and that had hurt his play, having come into the tournament in good form with a title in Basel and a run to the semi-finals of the Paris Masters.
“The court here plays differently, definitely slower than the last few tournaments I’ve played. So everyone is making minor adjustments, including me,” he said.
Nishikori faces Kevin Anderson at 6pm UAE time in the other game today.