Carlos Alcaraz reaches US Open quarterfinal with late-night win against Marin Cilic
by Sam Cromer | June 10, 2017
Carlos Alcaraz reaches US Open quarterfinal with late-night win against Marin Cilic
Carlos Alcaraz reached his first major quarterfinal in the majors since he lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon back in 2010. After some delays, he completed his historic journey with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Marin Cilic in a match with three sets for the third set tiebreak and the fifth set.
The first set saw Alcaraz lead briefly, 5-2, but Cilic then broke him for seven, levelled the set at one all, but Alcaraz broke him for the final time for a game and made the final point to force a final set tiebreak. But Cilic was broken for the second time in the third. Another break came midway through the third set and ended with the score at 4-4 and Cilic broke twice more to finish the set with an ace and get the set on serve.
Two sets into the fourth, Alcaraz broke Cilic for a second time to go ahead. However, Cilic closed out the game with a lob.
The fifth set began in similar fashion to the fourth, but this time Alcaraz had the better of Cilic once more and was able to break him for a third time. It didn’t take long for Alcaraz to break him again and made the game 4-2 and a third set tiebreak was on the cards. Cilic, however, made the tiebreak point to force a deciding set.
The next frame began similarly and again, Alcaraz took lead with a break and Cilic went for broke but was unable to get another. The next game began in similar fashion and Alcaraz once again took the lead on serve. Cilic made a run to get the break back to make the second set, which began with Alcaraz breaking Cilic once again. They were both playing with a lot of confidence and were playing with each other all the time. Cilic’s game became much more defensive in the second set and he made several errors that let the Spaniard have the lead, 5-3.
The tiebreak began and Alcaraz