- Cilic prevails 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) after decisive tie-break
- Croatian has reached last four of every grand slam tournament
Just a year ago, as Marin Cilic fell outside of the top 40 and seemed to lose to a lesser player every week, it was not easy to envision him rebounding back to the very top of his sport. But this year at the French Open he has done so, reaching the semi-final here for the first time in his career by defeating Andrey Rublev, the seventh seed, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in one of the best matches of the tournament so far.
“The win comes from being me, I played that kind of tennis the whole match, especially the fifth set was an incredible battle,” he said. “Andrey played incredibly well, it was an incredibly fair-play performance on the court. A lot of heart. One had to go down and today was my day. Bad luck to him.”