Premier Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić made it to the quarterfinals of the ATP Tour in Rotterdam by defeating another Croatian competitor Borna Ćorić with 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 after nearly two hours of play
This was their third duel ad the third win for the 28-year-old Međugorje native, Jutarnji List reported on February 16, 2017.
In the previous duels Čilić dominated Ćorić by losing only five games in three sets, which is how the match in Rotterdam began. Čilić won the first five games in under 20 minutes and in the sixth had five set-points to win with 6-0. Yet, Ćorić began to serve better and finally got on the scoreboard. This only delay the decision in the first set as Čilić served in the next game for 6-1.
In the second set Ćorić continued playing better on his serve and securely held his service until he led 3-2, and then punished two careless net outings by Čilić and secured his first two break points of the match. Čilić got out of 15-40 with two good serves, but then made two new mistakes and lost the service. In the very next game Čilić had two chances to recover his lost service, but Ćorić served well twice for break points, taking the next serve from Čilić and without a lost point secured the third set.
The seventh game of the next set proved crucial, when Čilić had taken the serve from Ćorić, although the 20-year-old Zagreb native had seven chances to lead with 4-3. After not taking advantage, Čilić came to a break point and used his second serve to claim the serve. By the end of the match Čilić had another chance to take the serve from Ćorić, but failed to clinch the match point at 5-3. But, serving for the match he did not allow further complications, leading by 40-15 he used his third chance to end the duel.
This is only the third win for Čilić in2017, tying together two wins for the first time in Rotterdam. Ćorić’s win over Russian Karen Hačanov in the first round was his first success in this calendar year.
Čilić is the first seed in Rotterdam, set to play against French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals.
