Marin Čilić qualified for the third round of the Australian Open. The best Croatian tennis player convincingly defeated Denis Shapovalov, the 21st seed of the tournament, in three sets. It was 6:4, 6:3, 6:2 in two hours and ten minutes of play.
Čilić opened the match fiercely and immediately took a 2:0 lead. Shapovalov quickly returned the break behind, but then lost his second service game in the first set. Čilić escaped at 4:1, but once again the Canadian tennis player managed to come back and equalize at 4:4. Čilić made up for a slightly better game in the first part with a new break for a 5:4 lead took a 1:0 advantage in sets.
The second part was much calmer in terms of service games being taken away. There was only one break, and it was made by Čilić with a 3:2 lead, which opened the way to 2:0 in the sets. Čilić had his opponent on his knees at the very start of the third set. In the first game, the Croatian player had three tied break chances, but he did not use any of them, and Shapovalov got out of a dangerous situation at least temporarily, writes Index.hr.
At 1:2, Čilić survived a dangerous game on his serve. He saved one opponent’s break ballequalized at 2:2 and then quickly took away Shapovalov’s serve, thus gaining a step advantage in the third set as well. Not only that, but the Canadian was completely crushed by it. Čilić won all the remaining games in the match and thus achieved an impressive victory for the passage.
A duel with Ruud next?
Čilić’s opponent in the third round will be the better of Casper Ruud, the 12th seed, and Jaume Munar. Čilić, currently the 70th player in the world, in the first two rounds of the Australian Open he still hasn’t lost a set. Let’s remind you, in the first test he defeated Daniel Altmaier with an even more convincing 6:0, 6:0, 7:6.
An ELEVENTH AO third round for Cilic 👏
He’s through after dropping just nine games to eliminate the 21st seed@wwos • @espn • @tntsports • @wowowtennis • #AO26 pic.twitter.com/hHpY9O8f9v
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2026
(www.jabuka.tv │ Photo: AFP)
