Two-time winner of the London ATP tournament, the best Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić (ATP – 17th), advanced to the quarterfinals on grass at the Queen’s Club for the ninth time in his career. Marin defeated Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik (ATP – 37th) in the 2nd round with 7- 6 (6), 7-5 in 94 minutes of play.
It was their third meeting and Čilić’s third victory, after winning the previous two on clay at the Roman Masters.
Both tennis players were very confident in the first set, so neither game went to a draw and the outcome was decided by a tie-break. Bublik opened it brilliantly and took the lead at 5-0 to reach three set points at 6-3. But a big turnaround from Čilić stopped all set points and after swapping sides, Marin scored two more points and thus won the first set.
Still in shock about how the first set ended, Bublik was disoriented in the second and Croatia’s best tennis player took a 3-0 lead after nine minutes of play.
Everything pointed to the quick end of the match and Čilić’s spot in the quarterfinals. However, Marin played the worst game of the entire match, and Bublik came to a break without losing a point, making the outcome of the match a bit uncertain again.
Čilić did not repeat the mistake from the seventh game and with two more games, he secured at least one more tie-break. But there was no need for that. Bublik paid for his mishaps in the 12th game, and Marin turned the first match point into a victory that brought him a spot in the quarterfinals.
It will be Marin’s ninth quarterfinal in his 15th appearance at the Queen’s Club. For a spot in the semifinals, Marin will play against Emil Ruusuvuori (ATP – 56th), who defeated Jack Draper 6-2, 7-6 (2) on Wednesday.
It will be Čilić’s first match against the 23-year-old Finnish tennis player, and the quarterfinal matches are scheduled for Friday.
Source: HRT
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