The final loss brought to an end a 22-game run for Murray, the longest undefeated stretch of his career which saw him win titles at the Queen’s Club, Wimbledon and the recently concluded 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
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Johannesburg, Aug.21: Newly-crowned Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray continued his rich vein of form as he booked his place in the finals of the Cincinnati Masters following a straight-game victory over Canadian No. 1 Milos Raonic in their men’s singles event.
Cilic, who failed to reach the semi-final stage in his last 70 Masters appearances, upset Murray 6-4, 7-5 to claim his maiden Masters title. “Andy was starting to play a bit better, and, I mean, definitely huge win against Andy who has been in a great run last couple months”.
“We’ll keep working to get better”.
Cilic accomplished the feat on little rest, as he did not leave the court after his semifinal win over Grigor Dimitrov until 2:00 am Sunday morning due to rain delays. I felt today that everything was good. Obviously, this is the best week that I’ve played since 2014 US Open.
“I’d like to congratulate Marin on his first Masters series – well done”, Murray said.
Murray broke in an opening game interrupted for 15 minutes by raindrops, with Raonic contributing two double-faults.
After Murray held his first two service games at love, Cilic scored a break in the fifth game with an overhead smash followed by a forehand victor for a 3-2 lead.
“Today I felt that the serve was a big factor in the game”, he said.
The second set proved to be a tighter affair, although Murray lost the only break of serve in the 11th game after initially saving four break points, gifting Cilic the chance to serve out the match and claim victory.
The Scotsman, angered by the umpire, was broken by Cilic at 5-5 in the second set and ended up losing it 5-7, as the Croatian managed to hold his nerve in the last game.
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“I’m very proud of this week”, he said.
