An unlucky Marin Čilić was forced to withdraw from the quarterfinal of the Masters 1000 Series tournament in Madrid. Namely, Čilić was meant to face Novak Djokovic on Friday afternoon, though a bad bout of food poisoning had different plans and gave Čilić no other choice, reports T.portal on May 10, 2019.
Čilić addressed his fans in an Instagram post on Friday morning:
“To the fans, @mutuamadridopen organizers, spectators and @djokernole I am sorry to announce that I must withdraw from today's match. I have had a terrible night dealing with a case of food poisoning. I am extremely disappointed to have my time in Madrid end in this way. Thank you for the support and I look forward to returning next year…”
Čilić was set to play Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinal in Madrid. Djokovic is currently the best player in the world and has beaten Čilić 17 of the 19 times the two have been matched against one another. However, Čilić’s sweet victory against Djokovic at the Queen’s Club in London last year was the game of his career. The Croatian tennis player was hoping for the same result against Djokovic again.
Unfortunately, there will be nothing of Marin at this year's Madrid Open. At this Masters 1000 Series tournament, however, Čilić managed to end his negative line of defeats and won against Martin Kližan, Jan-Lennard Struff, and Laslo Đere.
If he recovers in time, the next challenge for Čilić will be the tournament in Rome next week. And let’s not forget, the highly anticipated Ronald Garros begins on May 26.
Recall, Petra Martić failed to defeat the eighth best tennis player in the world, American Sloane Stephens. Stephens celebrated in the quarterfinal match in two sets - 6:4, 6:3.
Mate Pavić and doubles partner Oliver Marach also failed to win their quarterfinal match, losing to Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem.
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