Marin Cilic defeats Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets to take a 6-2 lead in their ATP Head2Head series.
Former World No. 3 to play Rublev or van de Zandschulp
Another day, another tough three-set win for Marin Cilic in Russia.
One day after clawing past Karen Khachanov, the former World No. 3 battled past third seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the St. Petersburg Open semi-finals.
“Today was a difficult match mentally, very, very different from yesterday,” Cilic said in his on-court interview. “During the match I was a lot up and down and I felt that I didn’t have great rhythm. But I felt that continuously I was making chances and I just had to stay mentally in the match.”
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Even in the last game, Bautista Agut put pressure on his opponent. But Cilic hit four consecutive big serves to get out of trouble and advance after two hours and 34 minutes.
The Croatian, who triumphed in St. Petersburg in 2011, will next play top seed Andrey Rublev or Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp.