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Sunday October 11, 2009

Cilic stuns Nadal to book final spot against Djokovic

BEIJING: Croatia’s Marin Cilic dealt Rafael Nadal his heaviest defeat in nearly two years yesterday, earning a 6-1, 6-3 victory at the China Open to set up a final with Novak Djokovic.

The eighth seed’s surprise win in one hour, 22 minutes was the first loss in Beijing for the Spaniard, who as top seed had set a blistering pace all week.

“Cilic is good, is young and has a very good serve but if you are losing 6-1, 6-3 there are a lot of things you are doing wrong,” said Nadal. “Mentally I probably wasn’t there.”

Cilic, in his first meeting with the former world number one, led 5-0 after just 15 minutes of the first set and allowed Nadal just two break points in the match, both in the second set.

Faces of victory: Croatia’s Marin Cilic celebrating his win over Spain’s Rafael Nadal in their China Open semi-final match.

“He played very fast at the beginning, played very well. It was very difficult for me, he was serving unbelievable, returning very fast and playing winners almost all the time,” said Nadal. “The worst thing for me is when I had a little bit of a chance to come back into the match in the second set I didn’t play well.”

Even the vociferous support of the centre court crowd could not rouse Nadal to anything more than token resistance and Cilic sealed victory with a rasping forehand on his fifth match point.

“I played good tennis today, I was hitting well, I didn’t give him too much time to adjust”, said the 21-year-old world number 15.

“I’ve played Djokovic three times and lost three times but this time I’m playing good. I believe if I can put in a performance like I did today, I’m sure I have a shot.”

Djokovic powered into today’s final after a 6-3, 6-3 win over Sweden’s Robin Soderling, which also ensures he will claim the number three ATP ranking next week ahead of Andy Murray.

Djokovic, the second seed, improved his record over French Open finalist Soderling to 4-0 and maintained pace as the top winner on the men’s circuit with 62 victories in 2009.

Murray has not played on the ATP World Tour since the US Open, missing the Asian swing due to complications from a wrist injury.

“It was another great win,” said Djokovic, who is 2-5 in finals so far in 2009. “I had to take my chances. I hope I can win this title.”

Nadal’s defeat was the heaviest he has suffered since going down 6-0, 6-1 to Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the Chennai final in January, 2008.

The Spaniard stood a perfect 14-0 in the capital after winning the 2005 China Open and claiming the Olympic gold medal in 2008.

But Cilic ripped through the opening set with six aces and set up match points on two separate occasions in the eighth game of the second with untouchable serves.

The desperate Nadal saved them both, breaking to stay alive at 3-5 but Cilic broke back for the upset victory.

The loss was Nadal’s ninth of the season against 58 wins and five titles.

Nadal was playing this week for the first time since the US Open due to an abdominal muscle pull. He goes into next week’s Shanghai Masters as top seed with Roger Federer missing the Asian swing to rest after reaching all four Grand Slam finals.

Djokovic stands at 3-0 over Cilic, including a victory this season in Dubai.

In the women’s action, French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the highest surving women’s seed, beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-3 in just over an hour to ease into her fourth China Open final, where she will play Pole Agnieszka Radwanska.

Radwanska overcame France’s Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-3. — AFP

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