Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
broken clouds
weather
OMAN
23°C / 23°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Cilic downs Coric to make Rotterdam last-eight

930213
930213
minus
plus

Rotterdam, Netherlands: Top seed Marin Cilic reached his first quarterfinal of 2017 on Thursday when he overcame Croatian compatriot Borna Coric 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 at the Rotterdam World Tennis event.


Cilic, who had just one victory this year going into the Ahoy Stadium tournament, improved to a perfect 3-0 over Coric, whose career was sidelined last autumn by injury.


“It’s always tough to play a countryman and Borna has been doing well in his comeback. It was not an easy match, even after winning the first set fast,” said former US Open champion Cilic.


“Borna has proved himself as a ‘next-gen’ player. Maybe he didn’t have the best season due to his knee surgery, but he’s playing quite consistently.”


Following his first-set thrashing, where he trailed 5-0, Coric steadied to square the match at a set each.


However, a break in the third by Cilic handed the top seed a crucial 4-3 lead.


Tomas Berdych, seeded fourth, hit 10 aces to defeat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 and advance into a contest against defending champion Martin Klizan of Slovakia.


Belgian third seed Dàvid Goffin earned a comeback win over Robin Haase, the last Dutchman in the field, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.


“It’s always nice to play these tournaments. They are smaller draws than Masters or Grand Slams, but the matches are always tough,” said Goffin.


Second seed Dominic Thiem defeated Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) as the top five seeds all reached the last-eight.


Simon, a three-time semi-finalist, went down as Thiem finally made a Rotterdam quarterfinal on his third attempt.


Fifth seed and last weekend’s Sofia champion Grigor Dimitrov put out Denis Istomin — the shock conqueror of Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open — 7-6 (9/7), 6-1. — AFP


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon