Cilic stuns Murray

There won’t be a repeat of last year’s men’s final. That’s because Marin Cilic took out Andy Murray in grand style stunning the No.2 seed in straights, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 at Ashe Stadium.

While it’s a surprising result, the 20 year-old Cilic was expected to have a breakout year. On one of the biggest stages, the 16th seeded Croat waited before making his arrival with a sound thrashing of last year’s runner-up.

Early on, Murray had his chances blowing a couple of early break points. After saving one on his own serve for 5-4, a shaky Cilic handed him two set points but dug out of it to hold. Then, the crowd favorite played a sluggish 11th game making uncharacteristic misses handing his opponent the first break. Cilic took the kind donation serving out the set to surge ahead.

“You know, he hit the spots on the serve, especially quite a few 30 All points or 15 30 points, and he served well,” lamented Murray after being sent packing without a first major.

“That was, for me, the difference. A lot of the times I played him before was he served well and I returned poorly and, you know, I didn’t give myself enough chances.“

“It was a relief for me to start getting more into the game,” Cilic said. “I didn’t have to think too much. I played good, played tactically well, and he was missing.”

The same two players met in this round earlier this year at Roland Garros with Murray prevailing in straight sets. But on this occasion, it was the lanky Croat who continued to play more consistently quickly breaking in the opening game of the second set.

Suddenly with confidence, he began serving better mixing in a few of his match best 10 aces. In Murray’s third round win the other night over Taylor Dent, he only missed six returns. But it was a far different story today with Cilic saving all seven break points while winning 79 percent of his first serve (38 of 48) and a respectable 58 percent on seconds (26 of 45).

In the middle set, he never was pressured. One of the reasons was that he was much more aggressive going for his shots forcing bad misses from Murray who committed more than twice the unforced errors to winners (29 to 13). Meanwhile, Cilic was much more consistent using his big forehand to pin the struggling No.2 player behind the baseline. In fact, he finished with 35 winners and 41 errors. A much better ratio.

As the match wore on, the more confident he seemed winning baseline exchanges while also using the net to his advantage where he did well finishing 19 of 30 (63 percent). Conversely, Murray went to the net only eight times converting five speaking to the difference.

Up 3-0, Cilic earned a second break thanks to more Murray miscues with a large forehand drawing a short reply into the net to which the Croat let out an enthusiastic scream. What was so stunning was how little emotion the Scot showed. Usually, he plays with such intensity admitting how much he enjoys playing in front of the big New York crowd. However, for some reason, Great Britain’s only hope to erase Fred Perry’s name from the record book was lifeless.

“You know, today I mean, I could have been better in pretty much every part of the game, whether it was mental or serve, forehand, backhand returns. I don’t know,” added Murray.

Whether it had something to do with his left wrist which British TV made reference to didn’t matter. He just didn’t compete disappointing many who came to see a much better match than they got.

“I had a problem with it for a week or so. But regardless, I mean, you know, I just struggled today. I played poorly. You know, I’m obviously very disappointed. I mean, after, you know, the way that the last three Slams went I felt like I had actually played well and lost,” Murray accurately pointed out.

“And today, you know, it didn’t feel like    didn’t feel like I played well. I had my chance in the first set, and then, you know, struggled after that.”

After Cilic made quick work to go up a commanding two sets, he again stunned Murray with an early break in the first game of set three. By now, the Ashe crowd grew concerned trying to urge on the 22 year-old who tried to hang in there holding serve twice to stay close. In the fifth game, he finally got his first break point since the first set but couldn’t cash in with Cilic proving too tough.

Following the missed opportunity, it was Cilic who sensed the moment breaking a struggling Murray for a double break 5-2 lead. With a chance to close it out, he had little trouble converting his second match point when a Murray forehand sailed long allowing a victorious Cilic to pump his fists in celebration.

Cilic will meet No.6 Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro for a spot in the semis after Del Potro used 22 aces and 44 winners to dismiss former 2003 finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero (24) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 over on Louis Armstrong. Last year, Del Potro lost to Murray in the quarters but there won’t be a rematch with instead a battle between 20 year-olds.

Later tonight, Rafael Nadal will try to avoid a similar upset when he takes on another dangerous player in No.13 Frenchman Gael Monfils. No.7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga faces No.11 Fernando Gonzalez this afternoon.