Marin Cilic (11) vs. Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov has gotten a lot of press over the years, but his results in the biggest venues have not been what many predicted. Granted he was a few games away from reaching the 2017 Australian Open final and also reached a Wimbledon semifinal in 2013. He also won the 2017 World Tour Final and Cincinnati Masters shield.
Marin Cilic likely has not gotten the publicity he should have. In 2009, he seemed like the “other big guy” as Juan Martin del Potro did damage in Melbourne and Paris before taking the US Open. Cilic of course won the 2014 US Open and reached the final round of Wimbledon 2017 and Australian Open 2018. If one throws in Cilic’s own Cincinnati title in 2016 and a Davis Cup win for Croatia, Cilic’s career is quite impressive.
This match should be fun for fans. Dimitrov has nice variety and a lot of power. Cilic, along with del Potro, is the best practitioner of big man tennis. Cilic should win based on their first round matches. He should have more energy in the tank and more confidence. If Cilic returns well, I think Dimitrov is in trouble. Cilic leads their head-to-head 4-1, but this will be their first match on clay.
Nevertheless, Dimitrov has enough game to win this match. Both men have a ton of weapons so this could be an explosive highlight of the day.
Marin Cilic: 'My greatest tennis on clay is but to come back' https://t.co/rgwtQLnT1F pic.twitter.com/pkX6t11hLX
— punga007 (@punga127) May 27, 2019
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