In their four-hour third-round match that started Sunday night and continued into Monday morning, Serbian Novak Djokovic finally overcame Marin Cilic of Croatia in four sets, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (0), in a rollercoaster of a tennis match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
This was Cilic’s first-ever US Open tournament. He defeated Julien Benneteau in the first round and Robby Ginepri in the second round. The lanky teenager has had an impressive year, gaining attention for his powerful serve and his agility on the court after having made it to the fourth rounds of the Australia Open and Wimbledon this year. Cilic certainly gave the No. 3 player in the world a run for his money in this third-round, high-pressure match.
But despite Cilic’s excellent play and focus, he was no match for Djokovic, who is having the best year of his career. After falling to Roger Federer in the finals of the US Open last year, Djokovic avenged the loss in the 2008 Australian Open, in which he defeated Federer in the semifinals and went on to beat Jo Wilifried Tsonga in the final to take his first-ever Grand Slam title.
Djokovic and Cilic played evenly throughout the entire 68-minute first set, each player holding serve, even through most of the tie break. The 19-year-old Cilic, who rose to the occasion in his first-ever match on Arthur Ashe, was able to get one point off of Djokovic’s serve when it counted – deep in the tie-break – to win the first set.
The second set began with Djokovic clearly on a mission to avenge his first-set loss. He promptly stole the first game from Cilic, who had to toil from behind the entire set. With Djokovic serving at 5-4 and poised to take the second set, Cilic broke back and evened the score at 5-5.
Looking to take a 6-5 lead in the set, the 6-foot-6-inch Croatian was streaky in his service game, allowing Djokovic to bring him to deuce several times. Cilic delivered two aces, one at 136 mph, as well as two double faults in his deuce battle with Djokovic, which the Serbian finally won to take the lead. He held serve to win the second set 7-5.
The third set proved to be a rollercoaster for both the players and the fans. After Djokovic took a 2-0 lead, Cilic would not roll over and battled back, first holding serve and then breaking Djokovic back to even the set at 2-2.
Again, Djokovic broke back, taking a 3-2 lead. Cilic would not be able to recover. Both men held serve through the rest of the set, and Djokovic finally won it 6-4 after 47 minutes.
With the score even at 2-2 in the fourth set, Djokovic broke Cilic’s serve to take a 3-2 lead. Then Cilic broke Djokovic to even the score. During Cilic’s service game, the Croatian had one double fault and several errors, which Djokovic capitalized on to break back again.
After both men held serve, Djokovic served with a 5-4 lead, attempting to put the match away. With two match points in his pocket, Djokovic allowed Cilic to get back in the game and break him to even the set at 5 games a piece. The fourth set was pushed to a tie-break, and while Djokovic still had a spring in his step, Cilic looked exhausted and wound up dropping the tie-break 7-love.
In what was surely Djokovic’s toughest match so far in this tournament, he raised both fists in triumph and walked around the court celebrating his hard-fought win. He thanked the fans for staying so late to finish watching the match.
Djokovic will play No. 15 seed Tommy Robredo of Spain in the fourth round.
