Cilic resists Roddick
What seemed initially to a sprint finally proved to be a marathon, but Marin Cilic will be just happy to have been the first to cross the finish line.
The Croat has survived 21 years in a rebound from Andy Roddick to sign a victory 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 and 6-3 and qualify for the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career Tuesday at the Australian Open.
Fourteenth-seeded, the Lover of Juan Martin Del Potro in the fourth round was already in its third five-set match of the tournament. His next opponent would be the winner of the duel between Rafael Nadal Andy Murray in the evening.
Annoyed by an injured right shoulder (he called the trainer at the end of the first inning), Roddick has bravely ascended the slope after escaping the first two innings, but his final descent began when he lost his serve in the fourth game of the deciding set. Cilic has the fifth in his pocket with two aces to consecutive 4-1 and run away with the match.
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The giant Croatian ended the game with 20 as against 15 for its U.S. rival, who was seeded seventh.
Cilic is, after Ivanisevic, Ancic and Ljubicic, the Croatian fourth to climb in the last four of a Grand Slam, the first in Melbourne.
Already winner of four titles, Cilic is expected to turn for a while and finally seems to pierce the highest level. He has now lost six of last eight of the top 10 players he has encountered. Winner in Chennai earlier this year he is undefeated this season as was Roddick and won Tuesday’s tenth consecutive win.
For Roddick this is another huge disappointment. It is now more than six years since he won his only Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open in 2003, the last date for a U.S. player. Not even the United States had experienced a long famine.