Marin Cilic dug deep to seal a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(10-2) victory and reach the semi-finals at the clay-court Grand Slam for the first time.
The 33-year-old is just the fifth active player to reach semi-finals of all four Grand Slams, alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Speaking followin the match, Cilic said:
“It comes from being me. I played that kind of tennis the whole match, and especially the fifth set was an incredible battle. Andrey played incredibly well, and it was an incredible fair-play performance on the court. A lot of heart, and one had to go down. Today was my day, but Andrey also played an incredible match.”
He further said:
“Andrey plays a difficult game. Serves big, hits big. You don’t have many chances and you have to keep up with your level and I did that. Unfortunately, I lost that fourth set. I felt I was close to get the break maybe, but Andrey played really well and when you play this long it’s always going to be a little bit up and down during the match.”