Andy Murray beat Milos Raonic for the fifth time this season as the Olympic gold medallist rode his Rio momentum into the final of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters on Saturday.
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His last loss was to Novak Djokovic in the French Open final.
Cilic accomplished the feat on little rest, as he did not leave the court after his semifinal win over Grigor Dimitrov until 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning due to rain delays.
To be exact, Murray had won 22 matches in a row-a number that also featured titles at Queen’s Club, Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics. I’ve needed it to be because I haven’t been feeling flawless. He now lies in tenth in the race to London, but a good run at the US Open will boost his placing.
Dimitrov now faces Cilic, who has won two of their three matches.
“It’s been a great run the last few months, but unfortunately couldn’t get it done today”, Murray said at the trophy presentation.
“I look forward to the US Open and hope I can continue the good form”.
Paris: Croatia’s Marin Cilic moved back into the top 10 of the ATP world rankings on Monday, thanks to his victory over Andy Murray in the Cincinnati Masters final.
Rafa Nadal and Stan Wawrinka, two of the headliners at the Western & Southern Open, fell in singles to a pair of young guns on a hot, steamy day on the hardcourts in Cincinnati.
In what was a see-saw final set, with both players taking chances from the baseline, Cilic fought from a break down twice to get to 4-4.
Tomic held serve in his first four games of the second but had a meltdown in the ninth game as Murray sent down some huge returns to break the Australian to love. I keep saying over and over that Murray is playing the best tennis of his career, and his shotmaking and defense have been jaw dropping during this stretch. “I was hitting a lot of big serves in important points, and I was definitely in that second set very, very mentally strong”.
“I was pretty much behind from that point on and it was tough”.
“He had a good win today against Nishikori”, Murray said.
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Cilic was not expected to cause an upset, but his first serve dominance helped him defeat Murray.
