Murray needed treatment on his shoulder during a tricky first set but soon recovered from the niggle to close out a 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 17 minutes.
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Wawrinka now plays Grigor Dimitrov, a victor over 16th seed Feliciano Lopez 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).
Cilic has reached a first Masters 1000 final on his 71st attempt. Obviously today didn’t go how I would have wanted but I congratulate Marin on his first Masters Series title.
When questioned as to why he has been playing back-to-back matches despite the issues with his wrist, Nadal said that the condition would be no better if he takes time off the court.
Murray said: “I’m very proud of what I’ve done this week. I’ve played a lot of tennis but it’s also the ball change”.
“It all feels fantastic, I’m seeing all the hard work of the last few years paying off”, said Kerber, 28, who beat Williams in the final of the Australian Open but lost to her at the same stage at Wimbledon.
Pliskova certainly has the potential to get the upset. “I’m looking forward to a few days rest now”, the world number two added.
In the semi-finals Murray breezed past Milos Raonic who plays a similar style as Cilic. He owns four titles in 2016 and has defeated Raonic five times since January.
Murray was fortunate to a degree initially in the semi-final on Saturday, securing a break point before rain delayed play in the opening game, hurting any rhythm Raonic had on serve.
He will be seeded second for the next fortnight behind world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who skipped Cincinnati after losing his Olympic opener to Juan Martin Del Potro.
Williams has been the number one for 183 straight weeks.
“If it happens, it will be fantastic”.
“I was pretty much behind from that point on and it was tough”.
The only unseeded player left standing is Dimitrov.
In doubles, Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo won the men’s doubles title in a very hard-fought match over the team of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
The German won despite breaking a string on the final point.
“I may miss some balls, but I have to just push myself and keep going”.
“I was serving really well with one racquet, so I stayed with it the entire match, and was switching on my return games to see if I could improve there”. I think he made maybe more mistakes than usual because of that. I’ve needed it to be because I haven’t been feeling ideal.
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– Marin Cilic stunned top seed and two-time Cincinnati champion Andy Murray to win his 15th tour-level title.
