Cilic beats Muller in 3 sets, reaches Queen’s final

Croatia’s Marin Cilic returns the ball to Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller during the semifinal at the Queen’s Club tennis tournament in London, Saturday June 24, 2017.

In a thrilling denouement, Lopez saved a match point with a lunging volley, then watched as Cilic fired a blistering ace and then a nerveless volley to deny him on two match points.

Grigor Dimitrov, who won the title in 2014, also made it through after a mid-match hiccup against young Russian Daniil Medvedev who needed shoulder treatment after appearing to injure himself while practising his smashing. Gilles was just pushing me to the limits.

“I played him here previous year, had a match point, but lost in the end”, the Spaniard said.

“It’s just wonderful to get to the final”, said Cilic.

“It’s hard to believe I’m playing my best tennis at 35, but yes I am”, he said.

Querrey, who caused the big shock at Wimbledon past year when he knocked out defending champion Novak Djokovic, failed to take any of the six break points that came his way in the first set against Thompson but edged the opener in a tiebreak. “It’s one thing doing it in practice but playing competitive doubles helps you have that confidence to do it when the pressure is on”. Five years on he is hoping his opponent is sufficiently well behaved to last the match but unable to stem a run of success for the Croat that suggests even greater spoils on another London lawn across the River Thames might be attainable.

“I’m just glad to go through”. In the quarter final, he came through a tough match against Sam Querrey.

Dimitrov was leading 3-2 in the second set when rain forced a lengthy delay, and when play resumed the Bulgarian became the first player to break Lopez’s serve in the tournament. Dimitrov recorded his 15th match win at The Queen’s Club by outlasting his counterpart in one hour and 46 minutes. “I’ve felt really good on serve all week and today I was mixing it up and playing smart”.

“I think it’s a lot about momentum”, Muller, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round, said.

“I was prepared fully, I approached it in the best possible way for me”.

Fourth seed Cilic also saved two match points, but at the third time of asking crowd favourite Lopez could finally celebrate a sixth career title after Cilic pulled a forehand into the tramlines.

“It was tough to accept the way the match was going because it was nearly impossible to return”.

In the final, it will be another big-serving lefty in Feliciano Lopez. “It’s the best week of my career – to win this tournament at this stage of my career, it’s so wonderful”.

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