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Thursday September 10, 2009

‘Baby Goran’ Cilic comes of age

A LITTLE nudge in the right direction from his hero and Croatian countryman Goran Ivanisevic helped Marin Cilic to overcome a major hump on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Cilic, yet another Croatian beanpole blessed with a thunderbolt serve, has long been on the verge of making his Grand Slam breakthrough.

But after tripping up in the last 16 four times, he made it count on his fifth attempt by clattering past British second seed Andy Murray 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.

Cilic screams with delight after beating Andy Murray

“I’m feeling tremendously happy. Of course it’s the biggest result for me so far. After reaching the last 16 four times, it was a little bit of relief after I won it. Now that I don’t have this (mental) blockade in my head, I can look forward.”

Cilic began his journey towards Grand Slam success more than six years ago when Ivanisevic, fresh from his triumph at Wimbledon, needed a hitting partner.

A 14-year-old Cilic jumped at the chance of testing out his skills against the country’s best and has never looked back.

“In 2002-2003, Goran was staying in Zagreb and practising all the time with me when he was there. He connected me with his ex-coach, Bob Brett, who I am here with,” said Cilic, who watched Ivanisevic’s 2001 Wimbledon victory on TV.

“Goran was a great help, otherwise I wouldn’t be here today. He is the one who brought tennis on a high level in Croatia and everybody looked at him as a hero.

“For us younger ones, it was also a big help money wise as there were many more sponsors coming into tennis. So Goran helped me a lot.”

On Monday, Murray saw just how dangerous the player dubbed Baby Goran could be.

With his long limbs and powerful double-handed backhands, he blew away Murray from 5-5 in the first set, conceding just four more games during the rest of the two-hour eight minute contest.

“First set was up and down from both of us. He had a breakpoint at 3-4, and I had break point and he served an ace,” explained Cilic, who will next run into Argentine sixth seed Juan Martin Del Potro.

“We were both of us searching a little bit for the game to set up everything. When I hold my serve for 5-5, I relaxed a little more and had a little more confidence after that.

“He was a little bit struggling to get on my serve to win a few points in a row, so that was a key thing for me.”

When Cilic faces Del Potro across the net in the quarter-finals, fans may feel as if they are seeing double.

On their bare feet, both stand tall at 1.98m (6-foot-6) and both will turn 21 within five days of each other later this month.

However, there is one psychological advantage the Argentine will have over Cilic — this will be the fourth time he has contested a Grand Slam quarter-final and in June came within a whisker of defeating Roger Federer in the French Open semis.

But Cilic remained undaunted.

“I played him in (the fourth round in) Australia and I think I have my chance.

“If I take positive things from today... I think I have the game that can hurt him.” — Reuters

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