Marin Cilic has played his way into the finals of the Australian Open with a convincing performance. There he waits for the winner between Roger Federer and Hyeon Chung.
Cilic defeated the Briton Kyle Edmund 6-2,7-6 (4), 6-2. 23-year-old Edmund, who had reached his first Grand Slam semi-final in Melbourne, seemed a bit tense and not very fresh from the runner’s point of view, but Cilic showed an experienced performance and freed himself confidently from the few critical phases. This was also the case in the third set when Edmund pushed for equalization after a break. In return, Cilic stayed focused, moved Edmund cleverly and managed to make the preliminary decision with another break.
“In the second set it was an ups and downs in my game, so he served better. But I stayed there mentally and was strong in the tiebreak,”Cilic explained the only end phase of the match,”He was physically but a bit limited,”he remarked.
The Croatian scored above all over his first serve: When he came, he scored 90 percent of the point. He was also successful at four out of eight break-outs and fought off Edmund’s two occasions.
Cilic has the chance to win his second Grand Slam title on Sunday after his US Open victory in the final over Kei Nishikori in 2014. Last year he was also in the final of Wimbledon, where he was defeated by Roger Federer. He could also meet him in Melbourne, but Federer doesn’t have to win his semi-final against surprise Hyeon Chung until Friday.
Edmund will move into the top 30 in the world for the first time due to his greatest success on Monday and will only be placed a few places behind the British number 1, Andy Murray. Murray has been working on a hip injury for half a year and was operated on in Melbourne two weeks ago – he will be out until the summer. For Cilic, too, things are going to be as high as never before: next week he will be the new number 3 in the world.