Marin Cilic booked his spot in the BNP Paribas Masters quarter-finals on Thursday and also clinched his place at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November.
The ninth-seeded Croatian ended David Goffin’s hopes of qualifying for the prestigious season finale with a 6-3, 7-6(9) victory in one hour and 55 minutes, with his first win in their fourth meeting. Cilic could not convert five match points at 6/3, 7/6, 8/7 in the second set tie-break.
“I was expecting it,” said Cilic. “That's what I was playing for. I have been in this Battle for London for a few years. You can say I'm getting experienced in that, so it's something that is giving me a lot of confidence… [It] was the goal of the season for me, to reach the [Barclays ATP World] Tour Finals in London. Obviously the Top 8 is something that all the players in the world are wishing for.
“It's one of the best tournaments in the world, for sure, to battle it out with best in that kind of a format. It's definitely something special, so it's great for me that I achieved it, especially in this kind of way over the past few weeks. I earned it, and that's, for me, an even bigger plus.”
Cilic, who moves past Dominic Thiem (3,215 points) to No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Race To London on 3,270 points, will next face World No. 1 and four-time champion Novak Djokovic or No. 14 seed Grigor Dimitrov in Paris.
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Dominic Thiem will now clinch the final spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals if Tomas Berdych does not reach the Paris semi-finals and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga does not win title. While Tsonga is alive, Berdych must reach the final to guarantee his spot.
Goffin, No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Race To London on 2,780 points, finishes his season with a 49-24 (32-17 on hard) record – including one runner-up finish in Tokyo (l. to Kyrgios).
“In some moments of the match, I could have done a bit better,” said Goffin. “But he played well and he didn't give me many opportunities. I personally gave away many points to him.”
