Eight years have passed since Marin Cilic reached the zenith of his career with victory at the US Open, and the Croatian last featured at the business end of a major in 2018. He is no longer in the bloom of youth but, at 33 going on 25, he remains as fit as a fiddle. and is enjoying an unexpected Indian summer at Roland Garros.

With a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (10-2) victory over seventh seed Andrey Rublev, the highest-ranked player remaining in the lower half of the draw, Cilic completed a full house of grand slam semi-finals. In the process, he claimed a little slice of tennis history, becoming the only active player outside the big four of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to make the semi-finals or better at all four slams.

“Absolutely fantastic achievement for me,” said the 20th-seeded Cilic, who also led Croatia to the Davis Cup title four years ago. “These guys have been [at] the top of the game for so many years. Looking at my own career, I had some obviously huge successes and won so many things. But also comparing to the top guys, I was not as consistent, you know. Had three, four seasons that were incredibly good, incredibly consistent, but I was a little bit in and out. 

“I’m just trying to use my opportunities as much as I can during my career every day, every match, to give my best and to [make sure] when I go out of the game that I’m absolutely proud.”

It is a knack that Rublev, who has now lost all five of the slam quarter-finals he has contested, has yet to acquire. There can be no doubting the Russian’s heart and endeavour. Yet for all the battering-ram potency of his service and loose-limbed forehand, the 24-year-old finished the contest with only 35 winners – less than half Cilic’s 88. There is also a question mark over whether he has the ruthlessness required at this rarefied level. Twice in the deciding set he intervened to overrule calls in Cilic’s favour and, while his sportsmanship was commendable, not every rival would be so generous at such a juncture. 

It will come as scant consolation to Rublev that, after failing to win a set in his previous last-eight appearances in New York, Paris and Melbourne, he is getting closer. Afterwards, he bemoaned his inability to roll with the emotional and psychological pressures of the situation. 

“Mental, everything [is] mental,” said Rublev. “I couldn’t manage. I couldn’t manage the emotions the previous times. And now it was the closest ever time that I was able to go through to be in semis. Again, the same thing, I didn’t manage the emotions. I don’t know if I did it better compared to other matches. At least I did a better score and I was closer than in other matches, but still, it is the same thing.”

For all his self-flagellation, Rublev fought back doggedly to build a lead after losing the opening set, and saved a match point on his serve in the 10th game of the decider. But it was Cilic’s heavy artillery that told in the end, the 20th seed running away with the final nine points of the first match tiebreak contested at a slam since the format was standardised across the four competitions in March. A fourth major final seems well within the grasp of the evergreen Croatian.

“Feeling good,” said Cilic breezily. “I was talking with my doctor at the end of last year and he said, ‘Your body’s like 25.’ Don’t tell my wife I’m saying this, [but] I might be playing another 10 years.”

Cilic will face Casper Ruud in the last four after the Norwegian eighth seed came through 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 against the Danish teenager Holger Rune. In the first all-Scandinavian grand slam quarter-final in history, it was Ruud who made the early running, racing to a 5-0 lead before Rune found his range to level the match. Ruud saw an early break cancelled out in the third set, but seized control of the tiebreak and the match to reach his first major semi-final. 

“These are the matches you dream about playing, and hopefully of course even the final, if it’s possible,” said Ruud, who shook his head in disapproval after Rune offered a perfunctory handshake at the end. “I have to be really focused and bring my A game in the semi-final because Marin has played great all week and it’s going to be another tough match.”

The post Cilic edges past Rublev to reach French Open semi-finals appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

“In order for the match to be finished, you have to win three sets,” came the rueful reply “Two sets doesn’t really mean anything.”

Twelve months on, Tsitsipas, 23, has learned that reputation means even less. Bundled out of the tournament 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 by Holger Rune, the Danish teenager who stunned Denis Shapovalov in the opening round, the Greek was inconsolable as he contemplated his failure to make the required tactical adjustments in time to avoid defeat.

“I was trying to return from really far back on his serves. He serves good, but he’s not John Isner,” said Tsitsipas, the fourth seed, in an emotionally charged press conference. 

“Psychologically, that really drowned me. Once I missed a few or wasn’t making it deep enough, he kind of found that pattern and was reading it really well, executing some, being able to bring out some good shots and feeling comfortable.

“I wasn’t really applying a lot of pressure, it was ridiculous at a point. And again I was stubborn, I was stubborn to change it, I didn’t want to change because it has helped me before, it has brought good results. But again, like I need to adjust way quicker, it’s too late for this stuff.”

Therein lies the frustration for Tsitsipas, who is at a point in his career when his greater experience over five sets ought to give him the edge over the likes of Rune, a 19-year-old making his Roland Garros debut who had never previously won a match at a major. The young Dane nonetheless deserves huge credit for his performance. He pushed Tsitsipas off the baseline with his power and depth off the ground, leavened the mix with some wonderfully executed drop shots, and held firm on serve in the key moments, not least when he fended off three break points as he served for the match after spurning an opportunity to seal victory at 5-2.

“When I was up 5-2, I thought that I had a big lead, so I kind of relaxed, maybe too much,” said Rune, who defeated Alexander Zverev en route to his first ATP title in Munich last month. “He was playing very aggressively and very freely, because he was obviously behind two sets to one and with two breaks, so he had at that moment nothing to lose. He just played some great shots. 

“Then he played a great service game, and then I went out at 5-4 really nervous, I would say, and a bit stressed, but I think I managed very good. Obviously started with a double fault. Was not how I wanted to. But, you know, then I came back and really tried to play more aggressive, because he was playing super close to the line, taking every ball as it bounced almost, and was really taking time away. I think at the end I showed some good shots and some very good tennis at the tight moments.”

The longform version of the game should nevertheless allow the elite to work things out, to overcome setbacks, to find a way. Tsitsipas was unable to turn the tide, as Djokovic did against him a year ago, and that will hurt. The Greek knows as well as anyone that he is no longer one of the game’s rising stars, but a former grand slam finalist and an established presence in the world’s top five. He is there to be shot at, a prize scalp for the next wave of young hopefuls aiming to upset the status quo at the top of the men’s game. Yet in recent months, he has been beaten by the 21-year-old American Jenson Brooksby in Indian Wells and Carlos Alcaraz, 19, in Miami and Barcelona. The danger of falling through the gap between the big three and the Next Gen is clear, yet he remains sanguine. 

“I’m not worried,” said the 23-year-old. “I know my tennis, I know my game. These kids are going to want to beat me badly, because obviously they are chasing. I’m chasing too, but I’m at a different kind of position than they are. I’m hungry to beat them too. Now that they have beaten me, I want payback.”

Also in the mood for payback was Marin Cilic, the former US Open champion, who swept aside Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to avenge a run of three straights losses to the Russian second seed. An irresistible display of attacking tennis from Cilic saw him seal victory in a brisk one hour and 45 minutes as Medvedev, one of the game’s most effective returners, failed to create a single break point and was broken five times.

With Tsitsipas and Medvedev out, Andrey Rublev assumes the mantle of favourite in the bottom half of the draw. The Russian seventh seed, who will face Cilic next, advanced to the last eight for the second time in his career after Italy’s Jannik Sinner was forced to retire with a knee injury while trailing 1-6, 6-4, 2-0. 

The post Tsitsipas and Medvedev exit French Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

As his bemused opponent stood waiting to shake hands, Tsitsipas, who had just converted the first of three match points with a sumptuous backhand return, marched across the baseline in readiness for the next point. Only when the chair umpire declared the final score did the realisation dawn that it was all over.

It was a bizarre conclusion to an aesthetically pleasing tussle between two of the game’s most gifted shot-makers. The highlight came midway through the third set when Paire, with a wand-like flourish of the racket behind his back, casually rolled a topspin forehand through his legs. As the rally continued, Paire feathered a textbook drop shot down the line, forcing the scrambling Tsitsipas to show admirable balance and control as he crafted a dinked reply. Paire, though, had read the situation and was swiftly on to the ball, angling a winner across the face of the net. 

But if the Frenchman took maximum points for artistic merit, the only standard of evaluation Tsitsipas will care about two months after undergoing surgery on his right elbow is the scoreline that confirms his progress to a fourth-round showdown with Taylor Fritz, who reached that stage of a slam for the first time with a hard-earned 6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Spanish 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut. 

“It feels good to be playing and be part of the last 16,” said Tsitsipas, 23, who is slowly playing his way into form after a tentative start to his Australian campaign that saw him sit out his opening singles match at the ATP Cup as a precautionary measure. 

“I’m happy with the match today. I feel like there were certain moments where my opponent didn’t work as hard as I had to do for the point. It was just one-shot execution from his side, serving really well, coming up with good shots.

“But I’m happy with the way I fought at the end. He certainly didn’t have to work as hard as I did for the points, but that paid off at the end with me being consistent and patient when I had to be.”

Daniil Medvedev, the second seed and title favourite in the absence of Novak Djokovic, made relatively serene progress against Botic van de Zandschulp, the 57th-ranked Dutchman. Van de Zandschulp had extended him to a fourth set at the US Open, but here Medvedev was in control from the outset, securing an early break and holding his own serve serve throughout as he wrapped up a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win.

“Botic played really good,” said the Russian, who will next face Maxime Cressy, the unseeded American who recently reached his first ATP final in Melbourne. “I even want to say he played, in my opinion, better than in US Open, but maybe served a little bit worse – and that’s where I took my chances. 

“Almost every game where I could break him, I managed to do it. I think I had two games where I didn’t break him when I had break points, but it was enough today. I’m pretty happy about my level: served well, didn’t get broken – even if he had opportunities – was running pretty well, doing some good shots. I’m happy about my performance and looking forward to the next match.”

The same cannot be said for Medvedev’s compatriot Andrey Rublev, who was undone 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-3 by former finalist Marin Cilic. Rublev, the fifth seed, reached the last eight a year ago but was unable to build on a third-set fightback as the Croatian thrived in the quick late-night conditions. Cilic, whose bold approach was rewarded with 55 winners in all, won 85% of his first-service points and served 24 aces. 

“The match was extremely high-quality tennis,” said Cilic, the 27th seed, who will face Felix Auger Aliassime next after the Canadian saw off Britain’s Dan Evans 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

“It’s difficult to be passive against him. You have to be really proactive and then try to do as much as you can from your part of the court. A great part from me today was high-quality serving, and that helped me so much to be a little bit freer on my shots, on the returns.”

The post Tsitsipas and Medvedev march on in Melbourne as Rublev falls appeared first on Love Game Tennis.