
Marin Cilic overcame a minor injury scare in the Arthur Ashe Stadium to become the first man to book his place in the quarter-finals of the US Open.
Facing French world number 28, Jeremy Chardy, the 2014 US Open champion experienced a roller-coaster encounter during his 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (2),6-1, win. It was the second time that the two men have played each other at Flushing Meadows. The first was in the quarter-finals of the boys’ draw in 2005.
The match began with a straightforward opening set for the defending champion. After the first six games went on serve, Cilic picked his moment to pounce as a slice backhand into the net from Chardy enabled the Croat to break for a 4-2, lead. Despite breaking, the following game was problematic for Cilic after a series of below-par shots. Nevertheless, he was still able to fend off two break-points to stay ahead of Chardy, as he eased to the first set. Throughout the first set Chardy’s second serve was troublesome as he won only 25% of them due to some strong attacking play from the world number 9.
An injury scare during the early stage in the second set created a moment of high tension for both Cilic and his team as he rolled his right ankle. Fortunately, in the changeover following the incident, he looked over to coach Goran Ivanisevic to signal that he was fine. Despite his reassurance, the 2014 champion appeared more cautious on the court as Chardy surged to the unexpected break for a 4-2 lead. Suddenly the Frenchman has gone from the outsider on the court to the dominating force with the help of some blistering forehands. Cilic was clearly shaken as another impressive cross court forehand by Chardy level the match at one set all.
After losing five consecutive games, Cilic finally ended the French onslaught by holding his serve at the start of the third set. Similar to the start of the first set, both men was holding their services, but the level of Chardy’s play rapidly increased. The vulnerabilities in the first set-and-a-half declined as Cilic began to look the weaken of the two men with his serve. Despite this, neither of them could break each other. The next test for the Croat was when he was serving to stay in the set whilst trailing 4-5. This test was ironically the easiest game for Cilic as he took it to love as a tie-break approached.
In the tiebreaker, it was Cilic, who took control as the Frenchman’s mentality went into a meltdown. After serving a double fault in the first point of the tie-break. Chardy had no answer to the Croat’s dominating play as Cilic fired four aces on his way to three set points. The tie-breaker was won with a spectacular down the line shot from the 9th seed.
The momentum from the tie-break increased at the start of the fourth set as Cilic broke Chardy to love to move 2-0 up, four games away from the victory. The Croat went from strength to strength against the disheartened Frenchman. His style of play became more aggressive and there was a greater sense of urgency in his game as he sprinted to 5-0. Chardy managed to regain some of his fourth set dignity by holding his serve in the following game. It was however only a matter of time before Cilic booked his place into the last eight. He achieved the victory by hitting a forehand deep to the baseline to force Chardy to produce an unforced error.
Following his 11th consecutive win at the tournament, Cilic said during his on court interview that his serve was the key to his success today.
“The key today was finding my rhythm on my serve, especially in the third set”. He said.
He also admitted that he was ‘conscious‘ about his right ankle after rolling it during the start of the second set, but wasn’t too bothered by it after a couple games. In the last eight, he will play a yet to be decided Frenchman. He will play either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Bernoit Paire.