Marin Čilić has advanced to the second week of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
Croatia’s best tennis player Marin Čilić advanced to the round of 16 of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. The Croat defeated American Ryan Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the third set after two and a half hours of play, reports Gol.hr on January 19, 2018.
Čilić served 16 aces in the match, while the American, who is ranked 45th in the ATP, had ten. Though Čilić had made more unexpected errors (34), and Harrison made 24, he broke Harrison's serve twice, hit 53 winners, was firm on his serve, and hit 26 of 29 net points.
Čilic, who is the sixth best tennis player in the world, will play against Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta who is 10th in the ATP rankings. Čilić and Busta played each other in Basel in 2016 where Čilić was the winner.
This is the first time in seven years that Čilić has reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, though he made the round of 16 for four consecutive years from 2008 to 2011, which included a performance in the semifinals in 2019.
