Croatian Marin Cilic, former world number 3 and who has fallen to 373rd place in the ATP due to repeated injuries, won the Hangzhou tournament on Tuesday by beating Chinese Zhang Zhizhen (43rd) in two sets 7/6 (7-5), 7/6 (7-5), his first title in almost three years.
The last ATP final won by Cilic35 years old and re-operated on his right knee in the spring, dates back to October 31, 2021 against the American Taylor Fritz at the tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia.
“It’s incredible, I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved (…). It was difficult these last months, there was the first injury, the second and to come back there, to play this beautiful tennis (…), I’m very happy“, he rejoiced Cilic after the match.
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.
With this victory, he thus pocketed 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 – used their height to accumulate aces (12 for the Croatian, 8 for the Chinese) and never conceded 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.
Cilicwho 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 of Zhang27 years old, and feverish 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 Cilic more opportunistic and realistic than his opponent, converting his first match point.
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