Cilis wins 4-hour battle againt Rublev at Roland Garros

Marin Cilic blasted over 80 winners and hit over 30 aces to down Andrey Rublev at Roland Garros 5-7 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(2) for the semifinal.

Being Russian and playing against Marin Cilic is a bad idea in 2022 at Roland Garros as the Croatian is in the semifinal thanks to some impressive wins the past two rounds. First, he smashed Daniil Medvedev easily but then he firmly outplayed Andrey Rublev to secure the win. The first set was a very close one but Cilic had a bad serving game towards the end and Rublev won 7-5.

In the next two sets Cilic firmly outplayed Rublev behind a strong serving clinic that hte Russian did not know how to handle. Cilic played a very aggressive style attacking like a madman most of the time and it worked. He did commit over 70 unforced errors in the match but he also hit almost 90 winners and that proved key. Rublev did have a solid outing in the 4th set winning it 6-3 behind very strong play.

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The final set was a proper battle between the players and both had their chances. Both Rublev and Cilic had break points in the set but neither was able to find a breakthrough. They went to the match tiebreak and it was a superb display from Cilic who dominated with ease 10-2. He had 8 winners in those 12 points alone and it was a good summary for the match.

He dared more the entire match and he was rewarded by at the end. A semifinal at the French Open for Cilic who has now played in the semifinal at all four grand slams. He won the US Open many years ago as well.