By Chris Oddo | Thursday January 24, 2018
Marin Cilic powered past World No.49 Kyle Edmund and into his third career Grand Slam final on Thursday with a 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory.
Cilic didn’t surrender a break and won 45 of 50 first-serve points to get past the 23-year-old first-time major semifinalist in two hours and 20 minutes.Cilic broke twice in the first and twice in the third set, and in the second set with the match still hanging in the balance he snagged a hard-fought tiebreaker.
The hard-serving Croatian will face either Roger Federer or Hyeon Chung in the final.
The 2014 U.S. Open champion made his first Wimbledon final last summer but was hampered by a blister on his left foot and fell in straight sets.
By virtue of his win, Cilic will rise to a career-high ranking of No.3 in the world in the ATP rankings on Monday. He is the first Croatian player to ever reach an Australian Open final and he joins Goran Ivanisevic as the only Croatian players to reach more than two major finals.