A good version of Roberto Bautista met this Friday with an even better and recovered one from Marin Cilic, the 33rd and 35th Croatian in the world, who was number three in 2018 and champion of the US Open in 2014. Finalist a week ago in Moscow (he lost against local Karatsev), he seems to be back under his jurisdiction and thus beat the Spanish by 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3 in 2h33. He will face Andrey Rublev or Botic Van de Zandschulp in the semifinals.
A shame for Roberto, who missed too many break options (3/16), especially in a first set (1/9) in which Cilic converted the two he had. There was the key to a match that the 33-year-old from Castellón and 20 th in the ranking could have put on his side with a tad more success. The Balkan did not make it easy for him either, who placed 19 aces (for a total of 72 winning shots), three of them to close the triumph in a third set that happened to a second in which he was not successful with the service.
Even after all these years, look what it means 💪@cilic_marin continues his strong form by edging out RBA in two and a half hours, 6-4 3-6 6-3#spbopen pic.twitter.com/CCJkBBKXns
– Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 29, 2021
Roberto, who deserved to fight for the victory, did not get it and has not passed the quarterfinals in a tournament since last March, when he was a semifinalist in Miami. The defeat against an opponent who has him taken the measure in the face to face (6-2) will make him lose his position in the top-20, although he could recover it next week at the Masters 1,000 in Paris-Bercy.