Marin Čilić and Ivo Karlović failed to move on to round three of the ATP Master Series tournament in Spain
In the match of two players in excellent form, as both won tournaments last week (Čilić in Istanbul, Zverev in Munich), Zverev proved more agile with 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 after two hours and 34 minutes of play, reaching his third victory against Čilić in four matches, Jutarnji List reported on May 11, 2017.
Zverev got off to a better start and in the third game already had three chances to take the service from Čilić, but the Croatian player made several precise shots from the base line and kept his service. The middle of the set brought plenty of excitement: Čilić missed a break point in the sixth game, only to lose his service in the next game with a series of errors. But he recovered immediately and evened up at 4-4 and at 5-5 saved another break point by Zverev. In the tie-break Čilić was far better and won it with 7-3.
The excellent play from the tie-break was continued in the first game of the second set, giving Čilić two break points. Unfortunately, this is where he stalled, with Zverev hitting several good services and the opportunity for an early lead fell through. Čilić went on to lose his service and Zverev gained a 2-0 advantage. Čilić had the chance to regain the loss just like in the first set, but in the marathon third game he missed four break points while Zverev used his fifth to reach 3-0. After that both players held their service until the German won 6-3.
The match was interrupted shortly after the first game of the third set by a strong rain shower. At 1-1 Čilić managed to save a break point by the young German, but in the seventh game he made several mistakes which enabled Zverev to reach a break point and use it. After that Zverev lost only one point on his service and reached victory.
Better than Ivo Karlović was Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov with 6-3, 7-5 after an hour and 15 minutes of play. This was their sixth mutual duel and the fourth victory of the Bulgarian.
Karlović missed five break points in the first set, while Dimitrov used his first one in the second game. Although Karlović saved a set point at 2-5, this did not stop Dimitrov from taking the set.
In the second set there were no break points until the 11th game, when Dimitrov came to 40-0. Karlović recovered to 30-40, but the Bulgarian used his third chance to break Karlović and served for the win without a lost point.
