By Chris Oddo | Thursday, September 4, 2014
His revamped serve paid the ultimate divident on Wednesday, as Marin Cilic blasted his way past Tomas Berdych into is first US Open semifinal.
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Marin Cilic’s hard work from the service line has reaped significant rewards for the 25-year-old Croat all season, but none more significant than his 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych, which lands him in his first US Open semifinal and first at a Grand Slam since January of 2010.
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Cilic served 19 aces and won 48 of 57 first serve points to keep Berdych at bay for most of the match. He wasn’t broken until early in the third set, and when he was he responded by breaking back and closing the match out in a tiebreaker.
“When I’m serving really well I feel that I can keep it up and beat the best guys,” Cilic said in a post-match television interview. “I’m feeling that I’m hitting the spots better and the motion is more simplified. I’m catching the ball much quicker in the air and it’s a little bit tougher for the guys to read.”
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Quick service games helped give Cilic the momentum in the match, as he felt very little pressure coming from Berdych’s end of the court and therefore was fee to hack away on return.
With Berdych struggling to adjust to the gusty conditions, Cilic broke four times on seven opportunities in the first two sets to build a two sets to love lead.
“When I’m serving well like today I feel much more confident in the game,” Cilic said. “I can go for my shots in the return games. It’s a very crucial part of my game now.”
Despite having never come back from two sets down at a Grand Slam, Berdych rallied to take the lead in the third set, but after a controversial double bounce call in the eighth game went against the Czech, he became rattled and dropped serve to let Cilic level at four-all.
“Afterwards he was more tense, I felt,” said Cilic. “I felt that I was in a bigger advantage after that point.”
Both players held until the tiebreak, and Cilic finished off the milestone victory in the tiebreak, to become the first man from Croatia to reach the semifinals of the US Open in 18 years.
That man? The man in Cilic’s coaching box, Goran Ivanisevic. Asked after the match about who now had the better serve, the mentor or the protégé, Cilic didn’t hesitate: “His serve is way, way better,” he said.
Cilic will face either Gael Monfils or Roger Federer in the semifinals on Saturday.