Photo: AFP
Croatian #1 and world #16 Marin Čilić outlasted American Sam Querrey in the third round of the Wimbledon championships Saturday night in a five and a half hour marathon, officially the second longest match in Wimbledon history. After taking the first two sets against Querrey, Čilić lost the next two in tiebreakers, setting up a fifth and final set. Querrey had all the momentum coming into the final set as Čilić looked tired and uninspired after his fourth set tiebreak loss.
In the fifth set, both players held serve until Čilić finally broke Querrey at 6-5. However, with a chance to serve for the match, Čilić was broken right back to continue the marathon run. It wasn’t until the 31st game in the set that Čilić was able to break Querrey back and follow up with a strong service game to take the match 7-6 (14), 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-7 (10), 17-15.
Čilić will now play #4 seed Andy Murray in the Round of 16 on ‘Manic Monday.’
In other news….
Photo: Action Images
Croatia’s 6′ 10″ ace master Ivo Karlović has requested a formal apology from the All-England club after being called for 11 foot faults in his second round match vs. Britain’s Andy Murray on Thursday, The Telegraph has reported.
“I don’t know if there is any way to look at it [but] if it shows that I didn’t do them I would like a public apology from the tournament because I think that I deserved to be in the fifth set yesterday.
I am not saying that I would have won but on a lot of those foot faults it was an ace. I will look into it because it is also strange that in the doubles I didn’t do one.
I don’t do them because [of] my technique. Also, after they called two or three I even stood back a little bit and they still did it,” Karlović said after his defeat to Murray.
Two weeks after many Croatians called for improper conduct from German referee Wolfgang Stark in Croatia’s Euro 2012 group C finale versus Spain for not calling two penalties, this happens in tennis. Is it just coincidence or are tournament organizers trying to keep the Croatians down?
Cilic probably still tired from the 5 set match against the unseeded American player where he needed to go 16-14 in the final set.
I’ll be rooting for him, but am still realistic and don’t think he’ll ever make it back in the ATP Top 10 Ranking.
Sorry – meant today’s U19 Group match.
Speaking of Kovacic – I noticed he wasn’t on the roster today for Cro’s U19 qualifying match. He was on the squad for qualifying.
Am I missing something?
I’m very bullish on this kid’s abilities and think sky is the limit for him as he seems to do everything at a very fast pace. If he can harness and refine his talent, he can be a world class player. Or he can be a middling type that makes the national team and a mid-lever squad in one of the Big 4 leagues. I’m going to be an optimist on this one though.
Ziva, it seems to me you over-compensate with your negativism towards Croatia because you fancy yourself as the King of Objectivity on this site; you’re always calling Croatians who are positive towards Croatians “homers”. Are you a homerphobe?
You were talking like a defeatist before the Turkey playoff tie; you talk about the Croatian NT as though they are on a level with Ireland, when in fact on the field Croatia is closer to Italy and Spain than Ireland is to Croatia. Did you even want Croatia to qualify for Euros, or were you with Denis?
And your comments on Tennis: you are just repeating what the tennis media says, nothing new, nothing we haven’t herd hundreds of times; we all know favorites win in tennis at a very high rate, we all see how in every generation, a handfull of players (or less) dominate the sport. Tell us something we don’t know.
cilic succumbs to murry in straight sets.
Ok, go ahead.
Ziva, trying to belittle me simply because you can’t comprehend what I wrote only makes YOU small. Why are you asking others to explain what I said instead of just asking me?
@dannyj…….Kovacic has a great head on his shoulders. He has said and done all the right things. If I was a dinamo fan I would be very proud of the kid. How good can this kid be????? I think he is a very good player, but I don’t think he is a player who has star quality. If he was a star he would already be a stand out in the HNL. He is not. That doesn’t mean he wont be a valuable player for the repka one day. He will be good (better than Badelj), but not great. I think he will be a better player long term than the other young stud at Dinamo – Alen Halilovic (16 yrs old). Halilovic is a kid getting this push because of his father.
@HAET……..what the hell are you talking about? Listen son, if you want to have a conversation with me at least be coherent with your writing and sentence structure. I honestly have no clue what you are trying to communicate. Any translators out there who want to interpret what he means?????
Ziva, you are one negative SOB. You say things like “that’s the ONLY way Croatia could have played Spain” – oh really? I’d hate to be a soldier in your army!
You like to say “I’m not a homer, I speak the truth” – you think telling YOUR truth about soccer makes you tough, but when the truth of the world is presented, suddenly you’re not so tough and you just say what you’re supposed to say so that you’re not called a “raaaciss” – isn’t that correct?
Also, one of the great things about tennis (especally since they installed Cyclops), is that officiating plays a very small role in the proceedings. It truly is a clean sport.
ziva not tennis related… just was looking at the youth guys for national team… i know he’s been talked about on here but i don’t really remember.
whats the story with mateo kovacic.. is he the real deal or what? watched an interview off youtube and looks like he has a good head on his shoulders…
looks to me he gets knocked around pretty good but for sure he is just a kid still, seems like the effort is there…
Karlovic is what he is…….great serve, nothing else. He isn’t going to become a better player at this point in his career. Last few years he has been injured. When healthy he can be a top 30 player, but that is it. Once you get his serve back in and a rally starts, the point is over for Karlovic.
I’d be shocked if Cilic beat Murray. Murray is another class above Cilic. Maybe the pressure gets to Murray if Cilic can keep it tight.
Wimbledon is going to come down to the semifinal between Djokovic and Federer.
Karlovic has a point I watched the match. Either way though he has to work on his return game. The guy is a serving monster if he put it all together he would do a lot better on the tour and maybe become a top ten contender.
Kranjcar nets his first gol for veik ; against small Austrian klub. -U-
somethign to look forward to, ill watch it for sure… that and the end of the euro cup so we can move on and look forward to wc qualifying
He’s versing Murray next round…the officials will do all they can to allow Murray to get through
Cilic with many opportunities; he’s smart during complex shots, but during easy shots… jeez!
Cilic should’ve won this sets ago, but it’s still surprising he was able to hold up for this long. 🙂