Marin Cilic isn’t even in the same city as his new coach Jonas Bjorkman, but already the relationship is paying dividends. Cilic, who reached the semifinals at the Western and Southern Open on Friday, won for the first time in nine career Masters 1000 quarterfinals and made the last four for the first time in his 71 appearances at this level.
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Cilic told reporters that he’s been disappointed with his inconsistency over the last 18 months, since he won his maiden major title at the 2014 U.S. Open.
“I've been a little bit up and down with the form in last 18 months,” he said. “But when I feel that I'm playing great, I know that I'm going to always have a shot against top guys. Even somehow in the Grand Slams I'm playing always bit better than on Masters Series events. Here is the first time I made it to the semifinals ever on a Masters Series, Masters 1000 tournament, so it's obviously big step forward for me.”
Cilic, who parted ways with Goran Ivanisevic after nearly three years of a productive partnership, announced that he’s joined forces with former World No. 4 Bjorkman. Cilic says he hired Bjorkman, who coached Andy Murray for a spell in 2015, to help him diversify his attack.
“I spoke with Jonas, and he was really, really excited to work with me,” Cilic told reporters on Friday. “Even the idea in the background of it was for me to try to find somebody who could help me with my transition from the baseline to the net. I felt that he might be really the person that could help me the most with that, as he was great in singles and also great in doubles and obviously knows the game really well.”
He added: “He's been working with Andy as well, so that's obviously another part that is a big plus. You know, just feeling this could work greatly. Even in these last week, ten days we been this touch all the time. I can feel that things are moving already very, very quick.”
Cilic will face Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals on Saturday. Neither player has reached a Masters 1000 final before.