Marin Cilic has not had it easy since advancing to the Australian Open final (l. to Federer), his second Grand Slam championship match in the past three majors (also 2017 Wimbledon). The World No. 3 lost in the second round at the Rio Open presented by Claro and the third round at the BNP Paribas Open. Outside of Melbourne Park, the Croatian had gone 4-4 this year.
But Cilic took a step in the right direction on Thursday afternoon by defeating Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5, 6-3 at the Miami Open presented by Itau to earn his 10th victory at the event.
It is an important triumph for the World No. 3, who had lost four of his past five matches at Crandon Park. In fact, the Croatian was just 9-9 at the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year. But an impressive serving performance — Cilic won 85 per cent (29/34) of first-serve points — helped the 29-year-old to the third round, where he will play Vasek Pospisil of Canada.
Pospisil defeated #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev, the No. 27 seed, 7-6(5), 6-4. Cilic leads Pospisil in the pair's FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0, including an opening-round victory at this year's Australian Open.
Herbert was not an easy draw for Cilic, as the Frenchman achieved his best ATP World Tour Masters 1000-level result at Indian Wells, where he reached the Round of 16. By beating #NextGenATP American Taylor Fritz in the first round, Herbert earned his 10th victory of the season — a career best. But the Croatian was too strong, breaking at four of 14 opportunities.
Cilic is seeking his first title of the year, and is attempting to an extend a streak of 10 consecutive years in which he has raised a trophy, totaling 17 victories in his career. His best previous result in Miami came in 2013 when he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Andy Murray.
No. 20 seed Milos Raonic, a semi-finalist last week at the BNP Paribas Open (l. to Del Potro), continued his good form with a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win against wild card Mikael Ymer, who had earned his first Masters 1000 victory on Wednesday against Jan-Lennard Struff.
The Canadian lost three of his first four matches to start the year, but has now won four of five, and will look to improve that in the third round against No. 13 seed Diego Schwartzman, who ousted an in-form Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 6-1. The Rio Open presented by Claro champion evened his career record at 82-82 with the victory. Raonic won the only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, beating the Argentine in straight sets at 2017 Brisbane.
American No. 14 seed John Isner, a semi-finalist in Miami in 2015, ground out a 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3 victory over Czech lefty Jiri Vesely. Fresh from capturing the doubles title in Indian Wells with Jack Sock (d. Bryan/Bryan), Isner will take on Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a place in the fourth round. Youzhny rebounded to score a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 23 seed Gilles Muller.
Did You Know?
Cilic has won at least one title in each of the past 10 years, and is attempting to extend his streak to 11 consecutive years in which he has raised a trophy.
