By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, November 12, 2018
Queen's Club champion Marin Cilic was eager to rewrite a recent history of round-robin ruin in London.
Instead, Alexander Zverev delivered a dose of Déjà blue.
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On the O2 Arena's blue court, a bruising Zverev maintained his mastery of Cilic.
Rallying from a 3-5 deficit, Zverev deconstructed Cilic's forehand at crunch time in a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1) conquest at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Zverev matched Cilic with eight aces raising his record to an ATP-best 55-18 in 2018.
It is Zverev's sixth straight victory in seven meetings with Cilic.
The Australian Open finalist continues his career-long struggle at the season-ending event, dropping to 1-9 at the ATP Finals with his lone victory coming over Kei Nishikori in 2016.
The third-seeded German opened Group Guga Kuerten with a comeback win over Cilic for the second year in a row at the season-ending event.
Last year, Zverev was down 1-3 in the decider when he reeled off five of the final six games edging Cilic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in his ATP Finals debut.
Jitters were apparent at the outset of today's rematch.
The lanky Zverev double-faulted and floated a pair of forehands as Cilic broke for a 2-0 lead.
The German's ornery disposition did not immediately improve.
After missing a pair of returns, Zverev bounced his Head racquet high off the court as Cilic consolidated in the third game.
Seventeen minutes into the match, Zverev saved a pair of break points to finally get on the board. Cilic caught a break when Zverev missed a routine passing shot, digging out of a love-30 hole for 4-1.
Serving for the set at 5-3, Cilic could not close.
Finding the net with a backhand put the Croatian in a double break-point bind.
Increasing his ball bounces at a high rate before serving, a tense Cilic caught the top of the tape with a second serve that bounded long giving Zverev the break back.
Playing with more positive energy, Zverev zapped an ace and erupted in a primal scream leveling, 5-all.
When Cilic poked a low forehand into net—his 13th forehand error of the opening set—Zverev had the mini break and a 4-2 lead. The bearded Croatian netted a forehand and erupted in an anguished scream as Zverev earned three set points.
On his third set point, Zverev carved out a brilliant backhand drop shot, luring Cilic forward then bolted a backhand pass down the line seizing the opening-set in 65 minutes while waving an index finger.
Staring down break point in the sixth game, Cilic swatted an ace wide to erase it, eventually holding with his eighth ace.
A suddenly erratic Zverev played his sloppiest game of the set, sticking a backhand into the middle of the net to gift the break and a 4-3 lead to the Queen's Club champion.
The lead was short-lived.
Three forehand errors in a row saw Cilic give the break right back in dispiriting fashion as his flat forehand failed him under pressure.
The 30-year-old Cilic saved a match point sliding a serve down the middle withstanding a tough test to level after 10 games.
The second-set tiebreak was all Zverev. A couple of Cilic stray forehands followed by a Zverev blast down the line gave the German a 4-1 lead.
Zverev drilled a backhand down the line for five match points and finished firing a serve winner wide to close in two hours, six minutes.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic carries an 8-2 career record over eighth-seeded John Isner into their Guga Kuerten Group opener tonight.
Five-time champion Djokovic is aiming to equal Roger Federer'srecord of six year-end championships.