Marin Cilic beats Roberto Bautista Agut to retain Kremlin Cup title

In a rematch of last year’s final very little separated the two combatants.

Marin Cilic, Croatia’s best ranked tennis player, defended his singles title at the ATP Kremlin Cup 2015 tournament on October 25 2015, topping the No. 2 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4.

“Very aggressive and I was hitting the ball very early”, said Cilic, who is the reigning champion in Moscow.

Cilic, who had not won on the ATP Tour since his triumph at this event 12 months ago, claimed a solitary break in each set on Sunday to boost his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending World Tour Finals in London. “Coming back for a second year in a row and to win it again, it gives me huge, huge satisfaction and huge pleasure”, Cilic said.

He climbed two places to 11th in the Race to London, although David Ferrer’s subsequent title run in Vienna put him out of the running for one of the two remaining spots in London.

The Spaniard earned two more break points to level in the next game, but he erred on a forehand on the first and Cilic hammered a backhand victor on the second. I felt more relaxed on the court and it is always more hard to defend the title than to win in for the first time.