With plenty of Croatian sports buzz circulating the state of Florida this week, though not all positive (see the Croatia national football team defeat here), we can at least have hope for Croatia’s tennis stars who are moving their way up at the Miami Open.
The Miami Open, a tennis tournament founded in 1985 and also known as the Miami Masters, is held in Key Biscayne, just off the coast of Miami, every year. The competition is held as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 for men and a Premier Mandatory tournament for women players. At the prestigious tournament, Croatia will have three representatives in the round of 32 - Marin Čilić, Petra Martić, and Donna Vekić, reports Gol.hr on March 24, 2018.
Croatia’s best tennis player Marin Čilić advanced to the third round of the major ATP tournament in Miami. The second-seed encountered Frenchman Pierre-Hugo Herbert in the second round, defeating him 7-5, 6-3 after one hour and 32 minutes of play. This was the second meeting of Čilić and Herbert and the second win for Marin. Both meetings have been played this year, with the first time they met being this January in Pune.
Against the current 81st player in the world, and otherwise a specialist in doubles, Čilić played a convincingly good match. He was especially strong with his return which is evidenced by as many as 14 breaks, of which he only used four, but was enough for placing into the third round.
Čilić scored a break in the first game in both sets, but he failed to keep this advantage in the first set. One unfortunate play with his initial hit, Čilić lost his service in the eighth game, which Herbert led 4-4. Luckily, Čilić avoided a tie-break by taking Herbert once again for 5-5.
In the second set, Čilić was much more secure on his starting serve, though he had to rescue a break in the sixth game. Marin once again ended the duel by taking Hubert’s service for 6-3. In the third round, Čilić will play against Possešil, who was better than Andrei Rubljov with a score of 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Croatia’s best female tennis player Petra Martić also advanced to the third round of the WTA tournament in Miami after two-hours and 13-minutes of play to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 over France's Kristina Mladenović, the 19th best tennis player in the world.
Martić was better than her rival in the first and second service, achieving 70% and 65%, while Mladenović reached only 45% and 30% The French tennis player also made nine double faults. Martić's rival took the service six times, and lost four times. This was the second match between Martić, who is 40th on the WTA rankings, and Mladenović.
In the round of 32, Martić will face Australian Ashleigh Barty, the 20th best tennis player in the world. This will be the first encounter of the two.
Donna Vekić will also fight in the round of 32 against Danielle Collins for a place in the quarterfinals.
Sources: Gol.hr
