Roland Garros, Cilic beats Rublev in five sets and is in the semifinals

For the first time in 16 participations Marin Cilic qualifies for the semifinals of Roland Garros. The Croatian, 33 years old and number 23 in the world ranking, beat the top 10 Andrey Rublev at the tie-break of the fifth set: 5-7 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6 the score in 4 hours and 10 minutes with a super final tie-break won by 10 points to 2. Now Cilic is waiting for the winner of tonight’s match between the Danish Holger Rune and the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the semifinal. For Cilic it is the first Grand Slam semi-final since 2018 when he played losing the Australian Open final in five sets against Federer.

The match

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Cilic starts strong in the service, starts with 2 aces and closes the first game with ace number 3. But already in his second serving round he is forced by Rublev to go to the advantages and on 3 equal to face the first break points of the match. With an ace and a winning forehand, Cilic cancels the first two opportunities for the Russian and then also cancels the third chance, forcing him to make a mistake with the forehand. On 4 all the Croatian goes down again 15-40, but with two aces, interspersed with a winning service, Cilic gets out of trouble by climbing to 5-4. The decisive moment of the set arrives on 5 all: Cilic’s double foul is a sign of tension. Rublev takes the opportunity to push with the answer, then a winning forehand brings him again to 15-40 and finally to the break. Rublev keeps the bar at zero and in 57 minutes packs the initial 7-5. Cilic, who closed the first set with 18 winners but also 16 free, is forced to limit free errors to make an even match. And he succeeds immediately, also increasing the percentage of points scored with the first serve. In the second game of the second set the Croatian makes his first break of the match, flies ahead 3-0, then reaches the 5-1 ball but Rublev resists. At 5-3 Cilic is recovered from 40-0 and needs the fifth set point to close the set with the ace number 17. The Croatian is regenerated and tries to finish the points wasting as little energy as possible. On 2 equal, two winning services from Rublev cancel as many break points just as the game enters the third hour of play. Rublev is too passive and not very precise, especially with the backhand, Cilic instead travels to an ace and a half a game and makes many winners especially with the forehand. On 3 all Rublev sinks again, Cilic recovers from 0-30 and closes the set 6-4. In the fourth set the 33-year-old Cilic goes limp: all his stats get worse. The aces go from 7 to 2, the first hours are only 52% against 61% in the third set, the points won on the first only 58% against 82%. Not even the shadow of break points while Rublev scores at 4-3 with a surgical break. The Russian serves to close the set and extend the game to the fifth. He is recovered from 40-0 to 40-30 but closes at the third set point with a winning serve.

Grand finale

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We are in the fifth set. The Croatian, on 4-5 of the fifth set, gets a match point by scoring an anomalous forehand down the line at the end of an exchange of 18 shots. Rublev holds up and Cilic forces a forehand, wasting the opportunity. The Russian holds the advantage. On 5 all Cilic cancels a ball that would send Rublev to serve for the match and earns the tie-break. The super tie-break starts following the serves, then on 3-2 Cilic attacks with the forehand and gets the first mini-break. We change sides at 4-2 and Marin continues to force with the response. Rublev does not hold up and the Croatian reaches 6-2, then with the 33rd ace he climbs 7-2, three points from victory. With a very deep backhand volley Cilic moves to 8-2 and then to 9-2. And on the first occasion he closes in triumph a match marked by 88 winners and 71 free errors. In the end, the two contenders were divided by just 5 points: 175 for Cilic and 170 for Rublev.