Marin Cilic scored his 500th career win by beating his compatriot Ivo Karlovic 6-1 7-6 (7-5) at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow. He has become the 50th player to achieve this milestone and the 10th active player with 500 or more wins.
Cilic broke twice in the second and fourth games and did not face a break point to win the opening set 6-1. He saved three break points at 3-4 in the second set before winning the tie-break of the second set 7-5.
Cilic won 18 career ATP titles, including the 2014 US Open and the 2016 Cincinnati Open.
“It would definitely mean that I have had an amazing career. I have been on the ATP Tour for many years and every season has been quite consistent from me. I have played a lot of matches and there is always an opportunity to learn from every match”,said Cilic to the ATP Tour website.
Cilic set up a second round match against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who never faced a break point in his 6-3 6-4 win over Miomir Kecmanovic.
Andrey Rublev fended off six of seven break points and broke twice in the third set to beat world number 98 Egor Gerasimov 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (7-9) 6-2.
“I have known Egor for a long time and I know how he can play. His level does not match his ranking”, said Rublev.
