TENNIS – Three-time ATP Finals champion Novak Djokovic swept aside this year’s US Open winner Marin Cilic with 6-1 6-1 equalling Stan Wawrinka who beat Tomas Berdych by the same score in the afternoon. Diego Sampaolo
At this year’s Wimbledon Marin Cilic led 2-1 but Djokovic fought back to win the quarter final in the fifth set with 6-1 3-6 6-7 6-2 6-2. Four months later in the same city but on another venue it was a totally different story.
In a one-sided match Novak Djokovic needed just 56 minutes to cruise past Marin Cilic. Djokovic was faster than Stan Wawrinka who wrapped up his match with the same 6-1 6-1 score in 58 minutes.
After a tight second game which featured 10 points Djokovic took control of the match in the third game of the first set before getting a second break to love for 4-1 with two forehand passing shots. The Serb broke serve for the third time to wrap up the first set with 6-1 in just 27 minutes.
Cilic dropped serve in the opening game of the second set and went down 2-0 when he netted his forehand. The Croatian player broke back to love for 1-2 with two forehands but Djokovic broke serve twice reeling off the final four games to wrap up the second set on the first match point with a double 6-1. Cilic committed 22 unforced errors.
Djokovic leads 11-0 in the head-to-head matches against Cilic.
Djokovic has extended his winning streak to 28 consecutive indoor matches. He is just two matches away from finishing the year at the top of the ranking. If he wins his two remaining round robin matches against Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday and Tomas Berdych on Friday, he will finish the year in first place for the third time.
Djokovic and Wawrinka now lead the Group A with 12 winning games to just 2 dropped games.
“It was a great match. I haven’t played here for 12 months. It’s great to be back. Marin has a lot of confidence but I managed to neutralize his serve and get a lot of balls back in play and that was part of the tactic. I was hoping that I could play this way. My team did a good scouting. We thought what’s the game plan. You could see that he did not feel so comfortable. I tried to use my experience playing on this stage, the stadium, which is pretty different from any other. The winning run helps my confidence. I don’t know how long the run is going to go for. The right mental approach is always to take a match at a time”, said Djokovic
Cilic was asked what happens when a player loses 6-1 6-1 in 56 minutes. “It’s my first time here. I felt that Novak played really well. In some matches, the score just keeps running. You are trying to find something but whatever you try, it’s not working. That what I felt today. I felt uncomfortable and rusty on the court. Also at the beginning of the second set where I broke back to come back to level the score, I played pretty sloppy service games. On this court it’s difficult to get the ball past the opponent. I didn’t have so many winners today. I have to stay positive not to let those things get into you. I didn’t have the rhythm on my serve that I wanted. Even in some situations where I was getting my serve in, he was able to return it well. That was another difficult task for me to bring up my game. Hopefully serve is going to serve from tomorrow”, said Cilic.
