Marin Cilic joins Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as the only active players to have reached the semi-finals at all professional tournaments; the veteran faces eight-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud for a spot in Sunday’s French Open final
Last updated: 02/06/22 12:24 am
Former US Open champion Marin Cilic will face Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of the French Open
Marin Cilic’s French Open renaissance continues as the Croatian reaches his first Grand Slam semi-final in four years with a clash with Norwegian Casper Ruud coming up.
Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion and Wimbledon finalist three years later, beat Andrey Rublev 5-7 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6 (10-2) in a decisive set-break .
The 33-year-old will face Ruud in the fourth round after the eighth seed ended Holger Rune’s fairy tale streak 6-1 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 to go through. into his first Grand Slam semi-final. -final.
Cilic was a player in red form who impressed in a consecutive set victory over world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals.
The Croatian once again relied on 33 aces and massive forehands to make up for 71 unforced errors in a slugfest that lasted 4 hours and 14 minutes.
He said: “The victory came from me, I played that kind of tennis the whole match. Especially the 5th set was an unbelievable battle.
“Andrey played incredibly well, it was an extremely fair-play performance on the court.
“Lots of hearts. One person had to be demoralized and today is my day. But Andrey also played an unbelievable game. Unlucky for him.
“I feel more tired mentally because Andrey plays a tough game, he serves big, hits big and you don’t have many chances.
“You have to keep up with your level, which I did. Unfortunately, I lost that fourth set. I think I was close to hitting the break.
“When you play that long, there will always be ups and downs in the game but I kept my focus in the fifth inning.”
In the final quarter-final, Danish teenager Rune beat Wimbledon semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov and fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in two weeks of breakout play, but he found Ruud was too hasty to fail.
“Of course it’s a lot of stress to start the day. It’s hard to find calm and peace,” says Ruud. “I had a great start but Holger fought back and raised his level.”
“I’ve played with him three times already, now it’s fourth, I guess I know a little bit about how he plays. He plays fearlessly, going into the big shots.”
“It’s a big day for Norwegian tennis,” added Ruud. “I’ll use tomorrow to prepare. These matches are the ones you’ve been dreaming of playing.”
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