There’s something about certain venues and certain players, and New York seems to just click for Marin Cilic. After a nonchalant season, the Croatian is once again playing his best tennis on the courts that saw his greatest triumph. Tonight’s match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will go down as one of the best encounters of this year’s US Open and definitely a win Cilic will not soon forget. Goran Ivanisevic’s charge almost let a two set lead slip but ultimately came through 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4 in just under 4 hours.
Cilic was the better of the two in the opening set and, after posing some questions on the Tsonga serve, he finally broke through at in the 9th game and served it out comprehensively for 6-4. Nothing in the second set would have suggested the final outcome of this tie as a sparkless Tsonga meandered around the court and his trademark big serve was definitely not on show. In fact it was an outrageously wide second serve which gifted Cilic the break at 2-2 as a downbeat Tsonga made his way to his chair.
At this point it was Cilic’s down the line strokes off both wings what was making the difference between the two but in the following game the Frenchman at least offered the crowd one of the shots of the tournament: a one hand backhand above shoulder height on the run which found an impossible cross court angle. Nevertheless Cilic sealed the second set with yet another backhand down the line, conceding only three points on serve en route.
In the third set things started changing ever so slightly, Tsonga started firing up and the crowd engaged with the exciting Frenchman. The number 19 seed was rewarded with a break of serve at 3-4 and served out the set 6-3. With a dip in Cilic’s serve and a notable improvement from Tsonga, a turnaround wasn’t far from likely, even if the stats were stacked heavily against it from taking place: Cilic was 43-0 in grand slams after taking a two set lead, whereas Tsonga was 2-13 after going two sets down.
Well stats are there to be broken and Jo-Wilfried came out in the fourth set decided to ensure that was the case. He almost broke at 2-2 as the Croatian was going through a terrificly tough patch which was affecting his confidence and, more importantly, his first serve. But out of the blue, with Tsonga serving at 4-5, a horrendous game from the Frenchman awarded Cilic two match points, which the Croatian didn’t take advantage of. He was given another chance at 5-6 but a poor drop shot attempt put an end to that occasion.
Cilic could have lived to regret those three match points as his serve let him down again in the tie break and the match headed to a fifth set. His serve did come to the rescue however at 1-2 with an ace to fend off a break point opportunity for Tsonga. Much like the fourth set, the momentum was with the man from Le Mans but another erratic game from nowhere handed Cilic a break which he wouldn’t look back from.
In the following game there was a slight moment of tension between the defending champion and the crowd as he ripped a huge backhand down the line which barely drew a reaction from the fans in the Arthur Ashe stadium and Cilic’s celebrations challenged them to appreciate what he was offering on court. It’s always surprising and disappointing to see a group of neutral fans not get behind a defending champion and the difference in noise levels was clear to see when Tsonga won a point as opposed to Cilic. At 5-4, the Croatian managed to waste yet another match point with a double fault but he finally got over the finish line at match point number five. That’s 12 wins in a row now at the US Open for Marin Cilic, dare he dream once again?
