Marin Cilic celebrated his 34th birthday with his first win against Austrian Dominic Thiem at the Tel Aviv Open.
Despite losing the first four meetings against the 2021 US Open champion, Thiem, as well as losing the first set in the second round of the Tel Aviv Open, the 2014 US Open champion did not give up until he finally claimed a 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
“I thought it was a fantastic match. I think the level of play is quite impressive,” said Marin Cilic. “We didn’t get many chances to play the second half in front of this much crowd, so thank you very much. It’s a great birthday.”
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The 33-year-old fired 15 aces and won 79 percent of points from his first serve, but the key to the match was the pressure he put on Thiem in a clash between the two former world No. 3 players.
The Austrian saved nine of the 13 break point opportunities he faced, but it was not enough to keep second seed Cilic from claiming victory after 2 hours 43 minutes.
Cilic will next face fifth seed Botic van de Zandschulp or Briton Liam Broady for a place in the Tel Aviv Open semifinals.
In other action, American service and volley play Maxime Cressy did well on indoor hard courts against compatriot Sebastian Korda.
Fourth seed Cressy won 82 percent of the points contested at the net and secured both break point opportunities she faced before beating Korda 6-4, 6-4 after 85 minutes. Thanks to the victory in the first meeting against Korda, he made his way to the seventh quarter-final of the 2022 season.
In the quarterfinals, Cressy will meet Finnish tennis player Emil Ruusuvuori or French tennis player Constant Lestienne.
Lestienne booked a second round match against Ruusuvuori after knocking out seventh seed Adrian Mannarino 7-6, 6-4. A win fought for 1 hour 55 minutes over compatriot who is ranked 51st in the world, Mannarino was the biggest win of Lestienne’s career to date.
While Roman Safiullin booked the second quarterfinal thanks to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Argentinean tennis player Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The next opponent for Safiullin is the third seed, Diego Schwartzman or the French tennis player, Arthur Rinderknech.
Spain’s Pablo Andujar booked a second round match against first seed Novak Djokovic after claiming a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.
