Marin Cilic is playing well at the Australian Open — and good fortune seems to be on his side, too. It is not a bad combination for the towering Croatian.
Cilic moved into Sunday’s final when he defeated Kyle Edmund of Britain 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-2, getting a little help from an unseeded opponent who appeared to be hindered by injury. Two days earlier the world No. 6’s quarterfinal opponent — 16-time grand slam winner Rafael Nadal — had to retire in the fifth set after picking up a leg injury.
As good as Cilic was performing against Nadal — and he was — without the injury it was difficult to see the 2014 US Open champion overcoming the Spaniard.
But it is not like Cilic hasn’t experienced health woes on court himself. Last year a foot issue in the Wimbledon final greatly hindered a crestfallen Cilic and he was barely able to test Roger Federer.
He could get another crack at Federer Sunday, as the defending champion and 19-time grand slam winner will be expected to beat the exciting but inexperienced Hyeon Chung of South Korea in Friday’s second semifinal.
Cilic will be making his first Australian Open final appearance and third grand slam final in all.
First for Federer
All the time Edmund spent on court during the grand slam fortnight — he contested two five-set matches and a pair of four-setters — might have caught up with the world No. 49. His forehand lacked its customary punch. Edmund went off court for a medical timeout to end the first set, the reason unknown.
But after the 23-year-old felt he received a bad call from chair umpire John Blom early in the second set he became reinvigorated.
Edmund desperately needed to claim the second set to have any chance of registering a second consecutive win over a top-10 player but his hopes vanished when Cilic grabbed the tiebreak. The third set was a mere formality.
There are not many firsts for Federer nowadays but when he meets Chung, it will be the first time in any of his grand slam semifinals that he has never previously faced that opponent.
The top two women in the rankings — Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki — will do battle in Saturday’s final after they won their semifinals at Melbourne Park in contrasting fashion earlier Thursday.