‘INCREDIBLE GUY’- MARIN CILIC COMMEND ANDREY RUBLEV’S ‘GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP’ AFTER FRENCH OPEN QUARTER-FINAL VICTORY.
Marin Cilic is through to the semi-finals of the French Open for the first time in his career after beating Andrey Rublev in a gruelling five-set match on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The Croatian took time in his post-match interviews to applaud the sportsmanship displayed by Rublev who conceded a point after it was deemed to be out by the umpire.
Marin Cilic says he is “unbelievably proud” to be through to his first French Open semi-final and has credited Andrey Rublev for showing “great sportsmanship” during the match.
The 33-year-old Croatian needed four hours and 10 minutes to overcome the Russian and will play either Holger Rune or Casper Ruud in the next round. Cilic has reached the quarter-final stage of Roland-Garros in 2017 and 2018 but has broken new ground by reaching the final four.
Cilic was dismayed to have a shot called out by the umpire in the fifth-set decider, only for his opponent to suddenly decide to concede the point to him.
The 2014 US Open champion has praised Rublev for his generosity at a vital moment in the match.
“I’m unbelievably proud,” Cilic told Eurosport’s Barbara Schett and Tim Henman in The Cube.
“Today was a tough day in the office and playing against Andrey is really a tough thing to do. Today was slightly different conditions to two days ago.
“It was a little bit harder in that the ball was not bouncing as much. Then it was not easy to open up the court and use the top spin. Luckily today I was serving fantastically well.
“I kept my focus today. It was not easy after losing that fourth test. He was really close to breaking a couple of games but I just kept my head down and put it in.
“I had some flashes in the last several years. A few years when I was playing incredibly well, aged 17 and 18, was incredible. I connect three, four sets but never this much in a tournament.
“I’m just trying to be myself in the court and whatever I feel on the court I just go for it.
“I’m just enjoying myself on the court and this performance and the fight. Andrey on a few occasions showed great sportsmanship and in this kind of a match every single point counts. I have to hand it to him.
“Bad luck to him, unfortunately one of us had to go down but it just shows he’s an incredible guy and an incredible player.”
In his on-court interview, Cilic said: “It was an incredible battle. Andrey played incredibly well and it was an incredible fair play performance on the court. A lot of heart.
“One had to go down and today was my day. Andrey played an incredible match. Bad luck to him.”
