The 2017 Wimbledon runner-up, Marin Cilic took on Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the first semi-final at the Fever-Tree Championships in London.
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Photo: Australia’s Nick Kyrgios reacts during day six of the Fever-Tree Championship at the Queen’s Club, London. (Photo by Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)
In the first set between the no. 1 seed Marin Cilic and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios gave up no breakpoints, and that took the players to a tiebreak. The fifth of the tournament for Kyrgios.
It took just one missed shot from Kyrgios to give his Croatian opponent the edge and Cilic took the breaker 7-3.
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Photo: Croatia’s Marin Cilic reacts as he wins the first set against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios during their men’s singles semi-finals match at the ATP Queen’s Club Championships tennis tournament in west London on June 23, 2018. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP/Getty Images)
It wasn’t until 2-2, 15-40 that we saw the first break points for Cilic against the Kyrgios serve. Kyrgios saved the first with a great backhand that forced Cilic into an error, before an ace then an unplayable serve and finally another ace saved the game for Kyrgios.
The second set again saw a tiebreaker and Kyrgios opened with a double fault. Cilic was not letting up and when Kyrgios played a poor point at 5-3 the Croat was presented with three match points.
Kyrgios got one point back against serve to get to 6-4, but then the Australian hit wide on the second serve from his opponent to hand the match to Cilic.
For Nick Kyrgios he has lost two semifinals in the past two tournaments he played, going down to both Wimbledon finalists from 2017. He lost a tight battle against Roger Federer in Stuttgart, and then today against Cilic.
Cilic advances to the final with a 7-6(3), 7-6(4) victory and will play the winner of Jeremy Chardy and Novak Djokovic.
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Photo: Croatia’s Marin Cilic celebrates victory over Australia’s Nick Kyrgios during their men’s singles semi-finals match at the ATP Queen’s Club Championships tennis tournament in west London on June 23, 2018. – Croatia’s Marin Cilic beat Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4). (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP/Getty Images)
