Marin Čilić advanced to the second week of the US Open, but it was a lot harder than expected.
Croatia’s best singles tennis player Marin Čilić played an incredible 3rd round US Open match – but it didn’t go without a bit of drama. Čilić lost 2-0 in sets to 19-year-old Australian player Alex De Minaur, otherwise the 45th best tennis player in the world, who never advanced further than the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament. The young De Minaur was up 6-4, 6-3 against our world No. 7, but Marin managed to return and take the game into the fifth set, reports 24 Sata on September 2, 2018.
And this is where things got even more unsettling for Croatia’s best.
In the fifth and decisive set, Marin first lost his serve, but immediately came back with two breaks to lead 5-2. De Minaur, however, did not surrender, putting pressure on Marin who was serving for the match at 5-3. Marin lost five match points and his serve.
The Australian player equalized at 5-5 and again it was a dead even race to the finish.
Marin won his service without losing points to lead 6-5, continued to press De Minaur, and ultimately secured the massive win for the round of 16 of the US Open. Čilić defeated De Minaur with 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6- 4, 7-5 after four hours and two minutes of play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v=NTWzbh5yPWY
Marin came out of the match with nine double errors, 59 direct points and the same number of unforced errors.
Čilić will face David Goffin in the round of 16 on Monday. The two have played each other five times – Čilić has lost to the Belgian player three times but won the last two games in Paris in 2016 (6-6, 7-6) and in Rome in 2016 (6-3, 6-4).
