January 24, 2022 - The latest at the Australian Open 2022, as Marin Čilić ends his campaign in the last 16, Petra Martić moves to the women's doubles quarters and Ivan Dodig to the mixed doubles quarters. 

Croatia's best tennis player Marin Čilić lost to Canadian tennis player Felix Auger Aliassime 2-6, 7-6 (9), 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the Australian Open last 16 on Monday.

Marin played a great first set to take the lead. In the second, he had a set point in the tie-break at 6-5, but Auger Aliassime returned to win the second set and ultimately turn the match in his favor. 

In the third set, there was no chance to break until the third game. Čilić then saved four break points for a turnaround but failed on the fifth. Auger-Aliassime broke in the seventh game and won the third set on his serve. Čilić was unable to come back.

At the beginning of the fourth set, Čilić saved two break points, and the set ended in a tie-break. In the 13th game, Auger-Aliassime took a 3-0 lead which he maintained to win the match 6-4 and advance to the quarterfinals.

This was Auger-Aliassime's first victory in his fourth match against Čilić, who had won in the previous three matches. Čilić missed the opportunity to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the third time in his career. In 2010, he played in the semifinals, and in 2018, he lost in the final to Roger Federer.

Auger-Aliassime will play in the quarterfinals against the second-best tennis player in the world, Russian Daniil Medvedev, who defeated American Maxim Cressy 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-5.

Petra Martic and Shelby Rogers have reached the women's doubles quarterfinals in Melbourne, beating the fifth-seeded side, Chilean Alex Guarachi and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez in two sets (6-2, 7-6 (2).

This is their second joint quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament after they managed to do the same last year at Roland Garros. They will face Japan's Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara for a spot in the semis. 

Ivan Dodig will play in the Australian Open mixed doubles quarterfinals. Dodig and French partner Kristina Mladenovic defeated the Australian combination of Arina Rodionova and Marc Polmans 6-2, 6-7 (8), 10-8.

They will play against Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus for a spot in the semis. 

Source: HTS

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January 22, 2022 - Marin Čilić is in the Australian Open last 16 after beating one of the world's best tennis players, Andrey Rublev, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3!

Marin Čilić easily won the first two sets, complicated the following two, but ultimately served for the match and victory. Marin will face Félix Auger-Aliassime next. 

“I enjoyed every single second of the match. I had so much fun and played great tennis. I tried to be aggressive, you can’t give these top guys the chance to hit – and I think it worked. I’m feeling really excited, it’s going to get tougher," Čilić said after the match, as reported by The Guardian.

Petra Martić and American tennis player Shelby Rogers will play in the third round of the women's doubles competition after beating 11th seeded Ukrainian Lyudmila Kichenok and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. For a spot in the quarterfinals, they will face the 5th seeded Chilean Alexa Guarachi and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

The mixed doubles tournament also started, in which Ivan Dodig and French partner Kristina Mladenović reached the second round with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-3 victory over the Belgian pair Kirsten Flipkens - Sander Gille.

Ivan Dodig and Brazilian Marcelo Melo did not advance in the men's doubles tournament, losing 7-6 (2), 6-3 in the second round to Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.

The world's best doubles team Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić lost on Friday in the second round of the Australian Open to Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (8), 3-6 in a match that lasted an hour and 36 minutes.

Mektić and Pavić lost the serve at the beginning of the match, but they managed to get it back in the next game, and then broke for a 4-2 lead. Kokkinakis and Kyrgios immediately came back and the first set went into a tie-break. In the 13th game, the Croatian duo managed to save three set points, but the Australian side managed to realize the fourth.

The sixth game of the second set was fatal for Mektić and Pavić, in which they managed to save two break points, but not the third. Kokkinakis and Kyrgios took a 4-2 lead. By the end of the match, the Croatian duo did not have the opportunity to return and the Australians were able to celebrate their spot in the third round.

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January 18, 2022 - Marin Čilić and Ana Konjuh have advanced to the second round of the 2022 Australian Open, while Donna Vekić and Petra Martić ended their run in the first round. 

Croatian tennis player Marin Čilić (ATP - 27th) advanced to the second round of the Australian Open, defeating Ecuadorian Emilio Gomez 6:3, 6:1, 6:2 after one hour and 43 minutes of play.

The only Croatian representative in the men's competition easily topped the 153rd tennis player in the world, who won a place in the main tournament through qualifications.

Čilić lost only six games and took advantage of seven break opportunities out of 11. Gomez made one break in the first set.

In the second round, Čilić will play against Slovak Norbert Gombos (ATP - 117th), also a qualifier, who defeated Timofey Skatov 6:3, 6:2, 1:6, 6:4 in the first round.

Ana Konjuh (WTA - 58th), the last Croatian representative in the main part of the tournament, advanced to the second round in the women's competition.

After two hours and 19 minutes of play, Konjuh defeated American Shelby Rodgers (WTA - 36th) 4:6, 6:3, 7:5.

In the third set, Konjuh was the first to break and served at 5:4 to end the match in her favor. However, Konjuh did not use three match points, and Rodgers returned. But Konjuh broke gain, won eight points in a row, and advanced to the second round. Konjuh had 5/9 on break points, and Rodgers 4/8. 

This was her first Grand Slam victory since Wimbledon in 2017. In the second round, Konjuh will play against the match winner between Danielle Rose Collins and Caroline Dolehide.

Donna Vekić finished her jubilee, 10th appearance at the Australian Open in the first round It was her premiere performance of the new season. Vekić lost to American Alison Riske (46th on the WTA list), winning only four games - 6:2, 6:2. Donna scored three aces, had a first-serve percentage of 44 percent, and did not reach a single break point. This was their sixth meeting and the third victory for the 31-year-old American.

After Vekić, Petra Martić was easily defeated in the first round after two sets against Jil Teichmann, 37th on the WTA list - 6:3, 6:3. Petra started the match with a break, only to lose her serve twice by the end of the set. The second set was decided after breaks in the third and ninth games. Martić scored two aces during the match with a first-serve percentage of 55 percent and used one of four break points.

This was Petra's 11th appearance at the Australian Open and seventh defeat in the first round.

Source: HTS 

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June 25, 2021 - Croatian tennis players have found out their Wimbledon opponents! The tournament will be held from June 28 to July 11, 2021. 

The only Croatian representative in the men's competition at this year's Wimbledon, Marin Čilić, will face Salvatore Caruso in the 1st round, while both Croatian representatives in the women's competition will compete against 20-year-old Russians - Donna Vekić v. Anastasia Potapova and Petra Martić v. Varvara Gracheva, was determined by a draw on Friday, reports Gol.hr.

Čilić, the 2017 Wimbledon finalist, was appointed the 32nd-seed of the tournament after Austrian Dominic Thiem pulled out on Thursday, so he was faced with slightly easier rivals at the beginning of the tournament.

In the 1st round, he will play against the current 97th player in the world, Caruso, who lost in the first round in his only appearance so far at Wimbledon two years ago. If he wins against Caruso, Čilić will play in the 2nd round against the better of the two qualifiers, Argentine Marco Trungelliti and Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, but in the 3rd round, he could face the second-best player in the world, Russian Danilo Medvedev.

Donna Vekić also received a not-too-demanding rival in the first round, 20-year-old Russian Potapova, the 82nd player in the world, who has played twice at Wimbledon so far and achieved only one victory.

However, in the 2nd round, the 25-year-old from Osijek will have a much more demanding task because she could play against the eighth seed, Czech player Karolina Pliškova or the Slovenian Tamara Zidanšek, who recently reached the semifinals of Roland Garros.

Petra Martić, who is set to be the 26th seed, will play against Gracheva, who currently holds 82nd place in the WTA rankings. This will also be her Wimbledon debut. If she wins against Gracheva, Martić will play in the 2nd round against the Romanian Irina Begu or the qualifier.

Vekić and Martić could be joined in the first round by Ana Konjuh if she defeats the Bulgarian Cvetana Pironkova in the last round of qualifications.

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February 9, 2021 - Marin Čilić and Petra Martić have been eliminated from the Australian Open after the first round, while Borna Ćorić and Donna Vekić have advanced to the second. 

Marin Čilić was quickly eliminated in the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. The finalist of the 2018 Australian Open ended his performance in the first round this year, and was convincingly defeated in three sets by the 18th seed, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov - 6:4, 6:2, 7:6 (5).

Marin had only four breaks during the match and used only one in the eighth game of the third set. At 5:3, he even served to win the set, but Dimitrov did not allow him to get back into the game. Marin had four aces (Dimitrov 19) during the match and recorded a first-serve percentage of 58 percent.

Fortunately, there was a good start for Borna Ćorić at this year's Australian Open. The 24-year-old from Zagreb (22nd-seed) knocked out Argentine Guido Pella (ATP-44) in the first round without losing a set - 6:3, 7:6 (5), 7:5. Borna had the most problems in the second set in which Pella had a 2-0 lead, and in the tie-break of the same set, he was only two points away from making the match even (5:3). However, Borna remained strong enough and, in the end, managed to win 3:0.

He recorded 23 aces with a high first-serve percentage of 70 percent during the match and used four of the 11 breakpoints in the match. It was their second meeting and the first victory for Ćorić, whose next opponent will be American Mackenzie McDonald, the world's 192nd best tennis player.

It took Donna Vekić two hours and 40 minutes to pass the 1st round of the Australian Open; after a great fight and three sets, the Osijek native managed to find a winning combination against Chinese rival Yafan Wang (WTA-98) - 4:6, 6:3, 6:4.

Donna started the match well, led 3:2, but then lost her serve twice and fell behind in sets. Wang took the lead in the second set with 2:0, and it seemed that she was surely stepping towards victory, but Donna turned around and took the second set.

In the decisive set, which was played for more than an hour, Wang had a 3:2 advantage, but Donna ultimately won with a final break in the 10th game.

In the second round, she will face last year's Roland Garros semi-finalist, Argentine Nadia Podoroska, currently the 45th best tennis player globally.

Petra Martić finished her time at the Australian Open and was surprised by the Serbian qualifier Olga Danilović (WTA-183) - 7:5, 3:6, 6:4. Petra lost the first set, but by winning the second, she was back in the match. She even led 3:1 in the decisive set but managed to win only one game until the end of match.

Danilović took a 4:3 lead, Martić equalized at 4:4, but no longer had the strength for the victory.  

Source: HTS

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February 5, 2021 - Croatian tennis players are ready for this year's Australian Open, which begins on Monday, February 8, in Melbourne. 

Gol.hr reports that the draw for the Australian Open, which begins on February 8, took place in Melbourne Park. Croatia will have four representatives in the singles competition at the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season. Borna Ćorić and Marin Čilić in the men's competition, and Petra Martić and Donna Vekić in the women's competition.

Borna Ćorić, who is the 22nd seed, will play in the first round against Argentine Guido Pella, while Marin Čilić will face a tough opponent, 18th seed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Serbian Olga Danilović will meet Petra Martić in the first round, while Donna Vekić will play against Chinese player Yafan Wang.

Ćorić played once against the 44th tennis player in the world and lost. It was 2017 in Chengdu, China.

Borna has dropped out five times in the first round in his six appearances at the Australian Open so far, and in 2019 he reached the fourth round.

Čilić and Dimitrov have played six times so far, and the Croatian tennis player leads 4-2 in victories. The last time they played was in 2019 at Roland Garros, and Dimitrov celebrated. They have already played in Australia once, but in Brisbane in 2014, where Čilić was better.

It will be Marin's 13th appearance at the Australian Open. He went the furthest in 2018 when he lost in the final to Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer in five sets.

Serbian Olga Danilović will play Petra Martić in the first round. Martić and the 20-year-old Serbian tennis player have not met so far. Martić has played in Melbourne nine times so far, and she achieved the best result in 2018, reaching the fourth round.

Donna Vekić and Yafan Wang had played once, in 2019 in Acapulco, when Wang won. Wang is currently the 96th best tennis player in the world.

The first-seed of the tournament, the eight-time winner of the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic, will play in the first round against the Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. Rafael Nadal, the second-seed, will start against Serbian Laslo Đere.

Last year's finalist, Austrian Dominic Thiem, is the third seed of the tournament and will face Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan.

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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 7, 2020 - Wonderful news from New York this morning as Borna Coric advances to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal! 

Croatian tennis player Borna Coric has advanced to his first quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament with a 7:5, 6:1, 6:3 victory over Australian Jordan Thompson. Coric defeated Thompson after two hours and ten minutes of play.

After the epic match and the incredible turnaround against the sixth-best player in the world, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (6:7 (2), 6:4, 4:6, 7:5, 7:6), Coric had a much easier job against the 63rd-best tennis player in the world.

The Australian dropped his serve early for 2:1 in favor of Coric, but came back and equalized at 5:5. That was all we saw last night from Thompson, and until the end of the match, Borna Coric was the only one visible on the court.

The second and third sets went easier, as Coric broke his rival in the second with three breaks, while in the third, one was enough for a spot in the quarterfinal.

? if you're into your first #USOpen quarterfinal pic.twitter.com/8nV620jzty

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2020

In the quarterfinals of the US Open, Coric will face the seventh-best player in the world, German player Alex Zverev. In their meetings so far, Borna leads 3:1. Their only match at a Grand Slam tournament was in 2017 at the US Open when Borna won 3:1.

Nikola Mektic and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof will play in the doubles semifinal of the US Open! Eighth-seed Nikola and Koolhof won the quarterfinals match 7:6 (6), 6:3 against the Belgian duo Sander Gille / Joran Vliegen.

The Croatian-Dutch pair went through the first part of the road to victory by winning the tie-break in the first set, in which Gille and Vliegen had two set points at 6:4. In the second set, a break in the fourth game was enough.

Passing the quarterfinals, Mektic reached his third semifinal in the men's doubles of Grand Slam tournaments, after Wimbledon in 2017 (with Franko Skugor) and Roland Garros in 2018, when he played with Austrian Alexander Peya. On the way to the first final, their rivals will be the third-seeded American Rajeev Ram and Briton Joe Salisbury.

Last year's quarterfinal at Roland Garros remains the best result for Petra Martic at Grand Slam tournaments. Kazakhstani Julia Putinceva beat the best Croatian female tennis player and 8th-seed in the round of 16 of the US Open. The match ended 6:3, 2:6, 6: 4 for the 35th-best female tennis player in the world.

Petra started the match poorly, but after 15 minutes, Putinceva had a 5:0 lead and, although Martic continued to play much better, she did not miss the opportunity to win that set.

The second set was another story. After 2:2, Martic equalized for 1:1 thanks to a great game and a great series. And when a complete turnaround was expected, Petra stopped, allowed Putinceva to take over the game and quickly lead 4:0, and later 5:1.

However, Petra did not give up, she managed to reduce the score to 5:4, but Putinceva managed to serve for her biggest career result. Martic scored four aces during the match, had a first-serve percentage of 59 percent, and used four of 10 break points. During the match, she made 39 unforced errors (Putinceva 25) and scored 40 winners (Putinceva 26).

Source: HTS

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September 6, 2020 - Marin Cilic and Donna Vekic failed to join Borna Coric and Petra Martic in the last 16 of the US Open. 

Donna Vekic has said farewell to this year's US Open. The 24-year-old Osijek native lost her 3rd round match to 32-year-old Cvetana Pironkova, who plays with a protected ranking in New York (due to childbirth). Pironkova celebrated 6:4, 6:1 in her first tournament since Wimbledon 2017.

Donna started the match solidly, kept the score even at 4:4, and then took only one more game until the end of the match, the first in the second set. Vekic only used one break point out of four in the match. In the second set, she managed to get only four points on her opponent's serve. It was their fourth meeting and the fourth victory of the Bulgarian tennis player.

The third-best tennis player in the world, Austrian Dominic Thiem, proved to be too strong for Marin Cilic in the 3rd round clash of this year's US Open. The tournament's former winner (2014) lost after four sets - 6:2, 6:2, 3:6, 6:3.

The Austrian won the first two sets in just 65 minutes of play, and Cilic did not reach a single break point in that period.

Cilic woke up in the third set, and in the sixth game, he stole his opponent's serve for the first time and reduced the score to 1:2 in the sets. Who knows how the match would have unfolded if Marin had used one of three break opportunities to lead to 3:2 in the fourth set. Thiem managed to save them at 15:40 and immediately stole Marin's serve in the next game. This was their third meeting and the third victory for Thiem.

Mate Pavic joined Nikola Mektic in the doubles quarterfinals of the US Open. Pavic and Brazilian Bruno Soares celebrated in the second round against the American duo Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow - 5:7, 7:6 (5), 6:4. The Croatian-Brazilian team was on the verge of defeat, Sock and Withrow served for the victory in the second set with a 5:4 lead, but Pavic and Soares equalized through a tie-break. They had a chance to break in the seventh game of the deciding set, which was enough to pass among the eight best doubles teams in New York.

In the fight for the semifinals, Pavic and Soares will play British team Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski.

Source: HTS

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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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