What’s happened to Marin Cilic? Last year, he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open and took a set off Juan Martin del Potro. Some felt, if he hadn’t given into nerves, he might have toppled the Argentine giant (though, the Croat, is just as tall as del Potro). He took one more step forward, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, this time, beating Juan Martin del Potro along the way.
Since then, his Slam results have been iffy. He lost to Robin Soderling in the French in the fourth round, but that loss was perhaps not too surprising. What was surprising was his early exit out of Wimbledon, in the first round, to Florian Mayer. To be fair, Cilic is more of a hard court player and the low bounce may not be to his liking.
Then, in the two hardcourt tuneups, Toronto and Cincinnati, Cilic lost to Baghdatis in Toronto and to Troicki in Cincy. These are tough opening rounds, but a top-ten player is expected to win matches like this.
Cilic faced Kei Nishikori in the second round. Nishikori was injured a fair part of last year and didn’t seriously start playing until April of this year. Because his ranking had slipped, he was mostly forced to play the Challenger tour. He managed to get to the second round of the French losing to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. He lost to Gasquet in the first round at Queen’s. He qualified at Eastbourne, but lost in the first round.
He lost in the first round of Wimbledon to eventual champ, Rafael Nadal, then didn’t qualify for LA. He qualified for DC, but lost in the first round. Finally, he played in Binghamton and won that event over Robert Kendrick in the final.
Before Nishikori played in the main draw, he had to get past qualifying. He won three rounds to get into the main draw. Nishikori got past Evgeny Korolev, a Russian who plays for Kazakhstan, when Korolev retired. This set him up with Marin Cilic who hadn’t looked that good, but did get past Illya Marchenko in the first round rather handily. But whether it was the heat that got to Cilic, or Nishikori’s better play, Cilic bowed to Nishikori in five sets in a match that lasted nearly 5 hours: 5-7, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1. Nishikori plays Albert Montanes, who had an easy win today. Montanes is likely to be favored because he had the easier match.
The big upset of the day was Richard Gasquet over Nikolay Davydenko. To be fair, Davydenko has not played the kind of tennis he played late last year and early this year since he returned back to tour just before Wimbledon. He was starting to get some accuracy, but he had not been the powerful player that was intimidating the best in the game. This isn’t to say that Gasquet is in great form either. He reached the third round in Cincy, but lost in the first round in DC and the Rogers Cup. Gasquet won this match pretty handily: 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Robin Soderling had lost to Nalbandian in Toronto and to Roddick in Cincy, which is somewhat respectable, but not what one expects for the fifth ranked player in the world. However, with the US Open, you get to play some easier opponents. Unlike Berdych, who faced and was defeated by a serve-and-volleyer, Soderling was able to handle the charging tactics of Taylor Dent who is not nearly the player Michael Llodra is.
Jurgen Melzer nearly lost to former top junior, Lithuanian, Ricardas Berankis, but Melzer pulled out the match, 7-5 in the fifth: 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
Mardy Fish continued to play well, especially with his likely rival, Marcos Baghdatis, already eliminated. He beat Pablo Cuevas in straight sets: 7-5, 6-0, 6-2. He attributed the win to better fitness and clay courters avoiding the hard court tournaments (Cuevas was probably ranked too low to get into Toronto or Cincy).
The French continue to do well. Arnaud Clement won when his opponent, Eduardo Schwank, retired in the second set. Paul-Henri Mathieu beat countryman, Guillaume Rufin, in straight sets.
Last year’s finalist, Roger Federer, had a comfortable win over Andreas Beck. He almost closed the first set with two breaks, but Beck broke back late in the first set. Federer won in straights: 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Beck was the second left-hander Federer has played. He’ll play Mathieu in the next round.
Novak Djokovic plays Philipp Petzschner next. Petzschner reached the semis of Halle, losing to Federer, then took Nadal to five sets at Wimbledon. However, Djokovic should probably win, and would be expected to get to the fourth round before meeting a seed (most likely, Mardy Fish, who has to get past wily veteran, Arnaud Clement).
Tomorrow, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal are expected to play. There is some concern about Hurricane Earl perhaps bringing rain to the US Open. We’ll see. It is just hitting North Carolina now and is expected to move up north.
Right now, James Blake looks like he might win his second round match as he serves against Canadian, Peter Polansky, in the fourth set. Polansky, like Nishikori, qualified to get in the US Open. And Blake served it out, and is in the third round, playing some of his best tennis in quite some time. He plays the winner of Djokovic-Petzschner.
