By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday September 28, 2022
Cilic moves into the quarters at Tel Aviv after rallying from a set down.
Photo Source: AF
Marin Cilic celebrated his birthday in style on Wednesday evening in Tel Aviv, defeating Dominic Thiem 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. The Croatian, seeded second at the indoor hard court event, will face either Botic van de Zandschulp or Liam Broady next.
Cilic turned on the power after dropping the opening set in a first-set breaker – he was not broken across sets two and three, as he hammered 11 of his 15 aces in those sets.
The 34-year-old broke Thiem four times on 13 opportunities to improve to 1-4 lifetime against the Austrian. The showdown marked their first meeting since Roland-Garros 2020.
29-year-old Thiem drops to 11-13 on the season. He will rise to 160 in the rankings next week, from 173. The former World No.3, still returning to form after a nine-month hiatus due to wrist and hand injuries, recently reached a challenger final in Rennes, France, where he fell to Ugo Humbert.
Thiem has won 11 of his last 18 matches on tour, after he snapped his 10 match tour-level losing streak at Bastad this summer.
In other action on Wednesday in Israel, Maxime Cressy took out fellow American Sebastian Korda, 6-4, 6-4. The 25-year-old World No.34 was not broken over the course of the one hour and 24-minute encounter with Korda. Cressy fired 14 aces and won 27 of 30 first-serve points as he broke Korda once in each set.
Novak Djokovic will take the court on Thursday in Tel Aviv, facing Spain’s Pablo Andujar in a second-round match.