The 35-year-old Croatian, ranked 777th in the world before the start of the tournament, becomes the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP Tour title.
Marin Cilic, former world number 3 and dropped to 777th place in the ATP due to repeated injuries, won the Hangzhou 250 tournament on Tuesday by beating the Chinese Zhang Zhizhen (43rd) in two sets 7/6 (7-5), 7/6 (7-5), his first title in almost three years. The 35-year-old Croatian thus breaks a record by becoming the lowest ranked player, at the start of the tournament, to win a title on the ATP Tour, erasing from the records the Australian Lleyton Hewitt, winner in Adelaide in 1998 as world number 550.
The last ATP final won by Cilic, 35, who underwent surgery on his right knee in the spring, was on October 31, 2021 against the American Taylor Fritz at the Saint Petersburg tournament in Russia.
“It’s incredible, I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished (…). It’s been difficult these last few months, there was the first injury, the second and to come back there, to play this beautiful tennis (…), I’m very happy”Cilic rejoiced after the match.
212th player in the world on Monday
The 2014 US Open winner had not won a match in 2024 on the main circuit before arriving in China where he benefited from an invitation from the organizers. Thanks to this victory, he thus pockets the 21st title of his career, also marked by two lost Grand Slam finals, at Wimbledon in 2017 and at the Australian Open in 2018.
The first set, very close, saw Cilic (1m98) and Zhang (1m93) – who were facing each other for the first time – rely on their height to accumulate aces (12 for the Croatian, 8 for the Chinese) and never concede their serve until the tie-break. “We both served really well, there weren’t many rallies, maybe I was a bit lucky today”analyzed the Croatian after the match.
Cilic, who had not had a break point until then, used his experience in the deciding game to win the first set, taking advantage of an unforced error on a key point by Zhang, 27, who was nervous in front of his home crowd for his first ATP singles final. The scenario was repeated in the tie-break of the second set won by a more opportunistic and realistic Cilic than his opponent, converting his first match point. Thanks to this success, the Croatian veteran, who will celebrate his 36th birthday on Saturday, will be 212th in the ATP ranking, having already climbed to 373rd place on Monday.
