In-form Cilic Maintains Winning Ways

© Barclays Dubai Tennis ChampionshipsMarin Cilic was impressive in his first Dubai match.

Favoured Croat advances to seconds round

Croatia’s Marin Cilic continued his winning ways this year by defeating Arnaud Clement of France 6-2 6-4 to reach the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday.

The number six seed has now won 16 matches this year, claiming titles in Chennai and Zagreb, with his only defeat coming against Andy Murray in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. This month he celebrated reaching the world’s top 10 for the first time.

It was no surprise then that he put in a solid performance against Clement and didn’t face a break point until the final game. He got off to a perfect start by breaking serve to love in the opening game, and then solidified his advantage by breaking again for 5-2 and then serving out the set at love and finishing with an ace.

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A Clement double-fault gave Cilic a break for 3-2 in the second set, and he held a further break point to lead 5-2. He failed to take advantage of that opportunity, and Clement then had the chance to extend the match when he held five break points to level at 5-5.

But Cilic rose to the challenge, saving three of those break points with aces before finally ending the contest with his seventh ace of the match.

Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman also reached the second round and a meeting with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis by overcoming Italian-speaking Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-4 7-5.

Just one break of serve decided the first set after Devvarman took a 2-1 lead. He then had to be patient in the second, holding off a break point when down 3-2 before breaking his opponent for a 6-5 lead and serving out the match to love.

Germany’s Michael Berrer also advanced, defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-4 7-6.

Berrer had a tough time holding his first service game for 1-1, holding off three break points before finally holding the 20-point game with his fifth game point.

He then broke to lead 4-3 and that was enough to give him the set, and he broke again at the start of the second set and held to lead 2-0. And although Stakhovsky recovered the break to level at 3-3, Berrer dominated the tiebreak to win it 7-3.

The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, which is held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free, continues until February 27th.