Marin Čilić, a 37-year-old Croatian tennis player, successfully opened his performance at the grass court ATP 250 tournament in Dutch Hertogenbosch. He beat Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.
It was the seventh mutual match in the careers of these two tennis players and now Cilic leads 4-3 in victories against an opponent ten years younger and the 42nd tennis player in the world.
It’s Cilic was the first to break in the matchhe made it 2-2 in the first set, but dropped the lead immediately after. He lost the game on his own serve despite having 40-0 and three tied game points.
Then each tennis player held his service games firmly until tie-break in which Shapovalov took a 4-0 lead. Čilić got closer to 4-5, but failed to make a complete turnaround and found himself behind 0-1 in sets.
Cilic’s game fell apart at the beginning of the second set when the Canadian took a 3-0 lead with two breaks. Čilić then rose, returned one break behind and reached 2-3. Čilić’s awakening continued and he strung together four games from 2-4 and won the second part with 6-4 to equalize the sets.
The match with a lot of amplitude continued in the third set, which was Shapovalov opened with a break for 2-1. When the Canadian tennis player was leading 4-3 and 0-30 on his serve, the rain interrupted the match.
After a 20-minute break, the tennis players returned to the court, a Čilić breaks back and equalized at 4-4. A new break by Shapovalov immediately followed, as well as a final rush by Čilić towards victory against the seventh seed.
The Croatian tennis player won the last three games in a row and won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.
In the second round, Čilić will play against the Portuguese Nuno Borges, who at the start of the tournament defeated the Frenchman Terence Atmane 6-4, 6-4.
(Hina | Photo: X)
