July 2, 2021 - It will be Marin Čilić against Daniil Medvedev, the 2nd-best tennis player in the world, in the third round of Wimbledon to be played on Saturday. 

The top-ranked Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić (ATP - 37) advanced to the third round of Wimbledon after defeating French qualifier Benjamin Bonzi (ATP - 119) on Thursday 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5 ) after three hours and three minutes of play.

In the third round, Čilić will play against the second-best tennis player in the world, Russian Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.

It will be their second duel, though the first was played two years ago in Washington when the Russian tennis player celebrated in two sets (6-4, 7-6).

By entering the third round, Marin achieved his best result at Wimbledon since 2017, when he came one step closer to the title, losing in the final to Roger Federer in three sets.

Čilić was a better opponent against Bonzi, leaving the Frenchman without a chance to break in three of the four sets. His only issue was serving in the second set when he allowed Bonzi to reach two consecutive breaks in the fourth and sixth games, but it did not last long.

The key to winning the first set was a break in the ninth game, after which he used the first set point. After losing the second set, Čilić recovered very quickly and, with one break, took the lead with 3-0 at the beginning of the third set. That was a sufficient advantage, as Bonzi did not get much of a chance. In the fourth set, Čilić missed two opportunities to break in the third game.

The decision to end or continue the match fell in a tie-break in which Čilić took a 5-1 lead, and Bonzi came close to 5-4 with three consecutive points. Čilić won the next point on the serve and reached two match points. He missed the first but turned the second into a win.

It was Čilić's 31st win at the All England Club, and for the eighth time in his career, he reached at least the third round at Wimbledon. He will now face Daniil Medvedev, who equaled his best Wimbledon result achieved in the last two editions of the third Grand Slam tournament of the season by entering the third round.

Source: HRT

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April 18, 2021 - Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić have celebrated their 5th joint title after winning the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday!

Another ATP tournament title was won by Croatian doubles team Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić. The Croatian duo celebrated at the end of the Masters 1000 series tournament in Monte Carlo, defeating Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski in the final that lasted an hour and 38 minutes.

Mate Pavić and Nikola Mektić advanced to the final of the Monte Carlo Masters after beating the Spanish-Argentine team of Marcel Granollers Puyol and Horace Zeballos 3-6, 7-6, 10-4 in the semifinal match. 

In the final, Mektić and Pavić beat Britons Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski 2:1 in sets. In the first set, the Croatian team celebrated 6:3, and the exciting second set ended 6:4 for Evans and Skupski. The third, decisive set was tied at 7:7 until Mektić and Pavić won the last three points.

? ? ? ? ? 5 titles
?? 2 ATP Masters 1000's

What a start to 2021 for @NMektic & Mate Pavic ??pic.twitter.com/j0TgUku0kg

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 18, 2021

It was a replay of the Miami Open Miami two weeks ago when Mektić and Pavić were better in two sets (6:4, 6:4). Mektić and Pavić have already won five titles this season (Antalya, Melbourne, Rotterdam, Miami, Monte Carlo). This was the sixth joint final.

This is the 22nd ATP doubles title for Mate Pavić (third from the Masters 1000 Series), while Mektić reached his 13th on the ATP Tour and fifth from the Masters 1000 Series. This is his second time he went all the way in Monte Carlo, as Mektić and Franko Škugor were the best in 2019. 

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September 26, 2020 - The draw for this year's Roland Garros grand-slam tournament took place in Paris on Thursday, and the most difficult job so far will be for Marin Cilic, who will play the winner of the US Open and the third-best player in the world, Austrian Dominic Thiem. A look at the competition of Croatian tennis stars at Roland Garros. 

T.portal reports that Marin Cilic drew the strongest possible opponent at the beginning considering Thiem's quality and current form, but also the fact that Marin has lost all three previous matches against the Austrian tennis player.

Thiem also knocked out Cilic at this year's US Open 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and Marin also lost to him at the Canadian Masters 2019 and Brisbane in 2016. The duel between Cilic and Thiem is convincingly the strongest pair in the first round, and in the 2nd round, the winner will play the winner of American Reilly Opelka and the qualifier.

In the first round, Borna Coric will play with the 106th-best player in the world, Slovak Norbert Gombos, who he has not played so far. If he passes, Coric will likely play against Frenchman Chardy.

In the women's competition, Petra Martic opens Roland Garros against Japanese Misaki Doi, the 80th-best tennis player in the world. Petra has played against the left-handed Japanese player only once so far and lost 6-3, 6-3 back in 2013 at the Australian Open. In the event she passes, Martic awaits the winner of the match between Russian Kudermet and French Parmentier.

Croatia's second representative Donna Vekic awaits Irina Bara in the 1st round, and if she wins, her next opponent will be the winner of Belgian van Utvyanck and Swedish Peterson.

Roland Garros is on the program from September 27 to October 11. Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep will try to defend their titles this year.

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September 5, 2020 - Great news just in from New York as Petra Martic and Borna Coric advanced to the last 16 of the US Open!

A new success for Petra Martic at the US Open, as Croatia's best female tennis player and 8th-seed of the tournament, advanced to the round of 16 on Friday, defeating Russian Varvara Gracheva (102nd on the WTA list) in two easy sets - 6:3, 6:3.

In the first set, the Russian player held the result at 1:1, and Petra took the 1-0 lead with two breaks.

Unfortunately, in the first game of the second set, Martic allowed Gracheva a new chance to break, but she returned immediately in the next game. After 3:1, Martic managed to save as many as five chances for Gracheva to reduce the score to 3:2, but the Russian still returned and served at 4:3.

Fortunately, Martic managed to lead 5:3 and served for the match. In the last game, Martic did not lose a single point and advanced to the 4th round of the US Open for the first time in her career.

Her opponent will be Kazakhstani player Yulia Putintseva, who beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. It will be the first meeting between Martic, currently the 15th best player in the world, and Putintseva, who is 35th in the WTA rankings.

After four hours and 38 minutes of play, Croatian tennis player Borna Coric also reached the last 16 of the US Open! Coric defeated the fourth seed, Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas, in five sets.

It seems that nothing can stop Borna Coric at this year's special edition of the US Open, including the sixth-best player in the world.

It was a marathon match that went to five sets, and in the fourth set, Coric achieved the impossible as he was down 2-1 and 5:1 and saved as many as six match points. The match ended 6-7(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4).

"I have to be honest and say that I was really lucky. I made some unbelievable returns, and I was a little bit lucky at the end. In the third and fourth set, he was playing unbelievable tennis, and I felt like I had no chance. In the fifth-set tie-break, I knew it was not going to be easy for him, so I tried to just keep the ball in court and make him play as many balls as possible," said Coric after the match for the ATP Tour.

In the last 16, Coric will face Australian Jordan Thompson, who convincingly defeated Mikhail Kukushkin in three sets. 

Donna Vekic will face Tsvetana Pironkova in the third round on Saturday, while Marin Cilic will face Dominic Thiem in his third-round match. 

Nikola Mektic and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof (8th-seed) advanced to the doubles quarterfinals of the US Open! The duo topped Italian-Argentine team Simone Bolelli / Maximo Gonzalez in the 2nd round match - 6:4, 6:3. After the semifinals of Wimbledon 2017 and Roland Garros 2018, this is their third-best result in men's doubles at the Grand Slam tournaments.

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September 14, 2019 - Petra Martic has secured the fourth WTA final of her career!

HRT reports that Croatian tennis player Petra Martic, the 23rd best female tennis player in the world, has made it to the final of the premier WTA tournament in Zhengzhou, China, after overcoming France's Kristina Mladenovic (WTA - 49th) in the semifinal 6:0, 6:3 after just over an hour of play.

In the final, she will play against the Czech tennis player Karolina Pliskova, who beat Australian-Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic 6:3, 6:2 in the first semifinal of the day.

To reach the fourth WTA final of her career, Martic managed an extremely convincing performance against Mladenovic, whom she defeated for the fourth time in their fifth encounter. The Duce native never lost her serve and broke her French opponent four times.

Smooth sailing ?

Petra Martic claims her spot in the @ZhengzhouOpen Final by storming past Mladenovic, 6-0, 6-3 ? pic.twitter.com/Gq9oqcR8AJ

— WTA (@WTA) September 14, 2019

In the first set, which lasted only 22 minutes, Martic took the serve of the French tennis player three times. In the second set, Mladenovic offered stronger resistance, and the match was even until Martic took the 5:3 lead. After that, she quickly ended the match at her serve. 

Martic served three aces in the match and Mladenovic just one. Martic took serve of her rival four times, and never lost her own. Mladenovic made six double faults, while Petra Martic made none.

This will be the sixth match between Martic and Karolina Pliskova. Martic has been better than Pliskova four times so far, with the last time this year at Roland Garros.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

Croatian tennis player Donna Vekić achieved the biggest win of her career on Friday. 

The Davis Cup trophy will be displayed in Zagreb for the second time! 

The top Croatian tennis players will fight in the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2019 season - the Australian Open. 

Marin Čilić returned to Croatia as the third best tennis player in the world. In front of him is the legend Rafael Nadal and the winner of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, Roger Federer.

A good start for some of Croatia's best tennis players in Melbourne for the Australian Open!