Australian Open victor Angelique Kerber, meanwhile, squandered the chance to end Serena Williams’ 183-week reign as women’s world No1 as she lost the Cincinnati Open final to Czech Karolina Pliskova.
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Rio Olympics tennis champion Andy Murray will take on Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the summit clash of the Western & Southern Open.
The victory streak was the longest of Murray’s career and the loss to Cilic marked his first defeat since losing to Novak Djokovic in the French Open final back in June.
It is a maiden triumph in the competition for Cilic, meanwhile, who lifted his first trophy since going all the way in the 2014 US Open.
The Scot was pitted against Milos Raonic – the Canadian he beat to claim his second Wimbledon title in July – in the semi-finals and despite enduring a barrage of aces, he progressed to Sunday’s final on the back of a 6-3 6-3 victory, his 22nd win on the spin.
Murray has had to overcome fatigue associated with the quick turnaround from the Rio Games gold medal match, while Cilic was to have less than 12 hours of rest before taking to the court for yesterday’s final.
It was Cilic’s third win in 14 attempts against Murray, who will now look to repeat his 2012 US Open title when the year’s final Grand Slam starts in NY a week today.
“It’s better for me to be finished now, but I’m not going to be fresher than Marin or Grigor”, said Murray, victor of 50 matches this season. “He’s been on a great run the past couple of months”. 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. “I’ve managed to get through the matches pretty well”. “Go I’ll go out there and give it a good go tomorrow and get a few days break before getting ready for NY”. Cilic said: “This week has been unbelievable for me”.
“Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball while on the grounds of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match”. I think he made maybe more mistakes than usual because of that.
Murray:”I’m very proud of this week”.
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“But I still fancy Murray for the US Open”. I felt today that everything was good. “I’m looking forward to it”.
