Novak Djokovic outlasted Marin Cilic in three taxing sets over more than two and a half hours, securing a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory on a boiling day in Cincinnati to reach another Masters final.
The win puts Djokovic, the No. 10 seed in the American midwest, one win away from completing the career sweep of all nine Masters events.
“It was tough. Obviously I’m very pleased to reach the finals once more,” Djokovic said on-court. “It has been a rollercoaster week, with matches and interruptions and the rain delays. … I just managed to pull through [today].”
He finally separated himself from Cilic in the very late stages, earning several break points at 3-4 in the third set and converting his third opportunity with a forehand pass that just dipped inside the line. The current Wimbledon champion then served out the match with aplomb, knocking multiple aces and slamming a forehand off the baseline on his second match point.
That was in sharp contrast to earlier in the set, when he took advantage of Cilic forehand errors to go up 3-1, but he faced several break points in the next game and double faulted away his advantage.
Those struggles more resembled the second set, when Djokovic errors handed Cilic an early break and a double fault gave the No. 7 seed a 5-1 lead before he later closed out the frame. But Djokovic had gritted out an imperfect first set, breaking early when Cilic paired two forehand errors with another on his backhand, and holding on.
Djokovic faced break point or deuce on three separate occasions, became unhappy after being called for a serve clock violation and won barely 60 percent of points on his serve. He found a way through, however, and hit a solid crosscourt backhand to convert his first set point.
That quality was on display again in the third set, where he hit more aces than Cilic and lost only two points on his first serve. It was only the latest example of impressive late-match play from the Serbian, who has won four consecutive matches in three sets, including against the two most recent Cincinnati champions.
The win marked a 15th in 18th head-to-head meetings for Djokovic, but the first in two years. The oddsmakers favorite to win the US Open reaches his sixth Cincinnati final, where he will meet either seven-time champion Roger Federer or David Goffin.
