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Cilic loses to Melzer in Dubai quarters
Marin Cilic failed to reach at least the semifinals for the first time this year when he lost to Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (8), 7-5 in Dubai on Thursday.
Cilic, who’d won titles in Chennai and Zagreb — including a win over Melzer in the semis — and made it to his first Grand Slam semifinals in Melbourne, looked set to keep winning when he had two break points for 5-1.
But on a windy afternoon, Melzer held serve and Cilic started making mistakes and bowed out after more than two hours.
“Of course, it’s a little bit disappointing. I think that I could go a little bit further,” sixth-seeded Cilic said. “I had my chance to make something and to win a few more matches. But also, the other guy played well. Melzer deserved it.
“I started good and felt well even though it was a little bit windy. I was hitting the ball well and serving good. Then I had that little bit of rushed game on my serve, and I lost like three, four points in a row. From there he started to play better, and he was putting more pressure on me.”
Melzer was through to his second semis of the year.
“Well, to be honest, I think I was a little lucky to hold serve at 4-1,” he said. “He played really fantastic, from when he just started the match. It was very hard hitting. I could not find my length. I was playing too short, with no spin and no height in my shots. But after that I mixed it up a little bit, played a little serve-and-volley, served better, and I took the chance to get back into the game, and I think that then it was a real match.”
Melzer will next face seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, who beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4.
Tipsarevic, a day after ousting Andy Murray, was never in contention against Youzhny, and couldn’t break the Russian in three chances.
“I knew he would be a little tired after last night’s tough match against Murray, so I just wanted to make him run a bit,” Youzhny said. “The plan seems to have worked.”
He was a Dubai finalist in 2007, losing to Roger Federer.
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