Marin Cilic fights past No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev in five sets to reach first French Open semi-final

ByEurosport

Updated 01/06/2022 at 19:04 GMT

Marin Cilic is a US Open champion and finalist at both Wimbledon and Australian Open, but he had never progressed beyond the French Open quarter-finals until now, with the 33-year-old’s 5-7 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(2) victory over No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev setting up a semi-final match against either Casper Ruud or Holger Rune.

Marin Cilic broke new ground at Roland-Garros after reaching the French Open semi-finals for the first time with a gruelling five-set victory over Andrey Rublev.

The Croatian No. 20 seed outlasted his opponent to win 5-7 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(2) after four hours and 10 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier, and did so by clinching the tournament’s first-ever super tie-break in the decider when winning nine points in a row.

“I played that kind of tennis all match. It was played with a lot of heart. One had to go down, today was my day, but Andrey played incredible. Bad luck to him,” Cilic said on-court afterwards.

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Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, who beat No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round, had previously fallen at the quarter-final stage in 2017 and 2018.

This time, the 33-year-old is through to face either Casper Ruud or Holger Rune for a place in Sunday’s final, with that quarter-final taking place tonight.

Both Ruud and Rune are first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalists, meaning Cilic – also a Wimbledon and Australian Open finalist – will have experience on his side in what will be his sixth major semi-final.

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“This has the makings of a very close match,” John McEnroe said on Eurosport’s commentary eight games into the first set, with only Cilic troubled early on when saving three break points in the seventh game.

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Rublev had another look-in at 15-40 in the ninth, and though Cilic’s serve saved him on that occasion, come the 11th game the former deservedly earned his first break before a love service game sealed the first set.

Cilic recorded 22 unforced errors in his win over Daniil Medvedev but had already clocked 16 Rublev’s four in the first set alone, and so the Croatian needed a vast improvement despite sending down more aces (8-6).

“He’s not strutting his stuff the same way, or affecting Rublev the way he did Medvedev,” McEnroe added, but suddenly Cilic found an extra gear, bringing up his first break points of the match and converting the second to take a 2-0 lead in the second set.

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Cilic then won the longest game of the match to hold and stay in front, and he managed to close out the set in the ninth game, converting his fifth opportunity after Rublev rallied from 40-0 down to force two deuces.

One break was enough to decide the first two sets, and it proved to be the case in the third as well, with Cilic taking the lead thanks to a break in the seventh game.

Come the fourth set, both players initially looked comfortable on serve, but after taking Cilic to deuce in the sixth game, Rublev broke in the eighth before taking the match to a decider.

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Neither player had gone to five in their opening four matches at Roland-Garros, with Rublev last doing so when exiting the 2021 US Open to Frances Tiafoe, likewise Cilic when he exited the first round at Flushing Meadows – withdrawing two games into the decider against Philipp Kohlschreiber.

With a semi-final place at stake, Cilic looked to draw on his superior experience, and had a sniff at 0-30 in the fourth game before Rublev valiantly held.

A final-set breaker was edging ever closer, but at 30-40 in the 10th game Cilic brought up the first match point, which Rublev saved before holding to make it 5-5.

Watch Rublev take fourth set and roar in triumph as he takes match to distance

Cilic then saved a break point to edge 6-5 ahead, but Rublev confidently sent the match to a tie-break – a fitting end to what had been an exhausting encounter.

In the champions tie-break (first to 10 as opposed to the traditional seven), Cilic took the early advantage when switching sides 4-2 up, and seven straight points then saw the Croatian lead 8-2.

“This is one of the best tie-breakers I’ve ever seen,” said McEnroe, with Cilic making it eight points on the spin to bring up seven match points, while point No. 9 in a row handed him victory and a place in the semi-finals.

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