Day 6 At Queen’s: Marin Cilic Set To Lock Horns With Foe Feliciano Lopez

LONDON: On a day when the rain made an unwelcome return to The Queen’s Club in London, Marin Cilic and Feliciano Lopez battled into the final of the tournament.

Fourth seed Cilic required a fraction over two hours to dispose of Gilles Muller 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, to get his second win over the Luxemburg player in as many years. As for Lopez, he had an equally testing match against Grigor Dimitrov, coming through 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, in an almost identical time.

Regardless of the high profile exit of the top three seeds earlier in the week, both men are worthy finalists. 2014 runner-up Lopez reached his second consecutive final after Stuttgart last week at the age of 35. This week he has charmed the London crowd with his tennis variety and won over more fans today when discussing how much the tournament means to him.

“When I was younger, I was watching Queen’s all the time, and it’s one of those tournaments that you always want to play. For me, it’s so special to be in the final.” He said.

Cilic will play in his second ATP final of the season after Istanbul last month. Since the Monte Carlo Masters, the Croat has reached the quarterfinals or better at six out of seven tournaments. The timing couldn’t have occurred at any better time for the former US Open champion, who will have a wealth of points to defend at Wimbledon. Cilic will be seeking his second Queen’s title after the infamous outcome in 2012 when his opponent, David Nalbandian, was defaulted. The Croat will be hoping for history to not repeat itself, not that he minds how he won it.

“A title is a title (smiling). They still say 17 titles. They don’t say 16 1/2. For me, it’s great to be back in the final for the third time here playing great tennis, and also again today I continued my good form.”

The match up

Sunday will be the eighth clash between the two players on the tour. Cilic leads the head-to-head 5-2, winning both of their meetings on the grass (Queen’s 2013, 2016). Earlier this year he dispose of the Spaniard in straight sets at the French Open. The key to that win was his ability to dismantle his opponents serve.

“We played a few weeks ago in Paris. Heavy conditions there. We played on Suzanne Lenglen. It was a cold day, heavy conditions.” Cilic recounted.
“It was easier for me to neutralize him, neutralize his serve. I guess that was the biggest difference in the match.”

Lopez is under no illusion of the tough task he faces. One notable factor to note is that despite being seven years older, the world No.32 has only won 31 more matches than Cilic on the ATP Tour (445-414).

“He has a great serve. He moves well for his height. He returns pretty good. So it’s a very tough match, I think. I have to play my best tennis if I want to win tomorrow.” Lopez said of Cilic.

Seven days ago, there was little talk about the possibility of a Cilic-Lopez final with the hype focusing around Murray and Co. Now it has happened, it is hard to dispute that the quality expected to be displayed in the match will be no less than that of the top seeds, who fell at the first hurdle.

The world of tennis isn’t always about the big four.