Wimbledon: Daniil Medvedev survives scare against Marin Cilic

Medvedev extended his grass-court winning streak to seven matches with the 6-7(3), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory, a three hour, 36-minute marathon of twists and turns

London: World Number 2 Daniil Medvedev survived a scare against 2017 finalist Marin Cilic to enter the second week of the Wimbledon Championship for the very first time here at Number 1 Court.

Medvedev extended his grass-court winning streak to seven matches with the 6-7(3), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory, a three hour, 36-minute marathon of twists and turns and moments of madness. This victory was also his first time coming back from two sets down at a Grand Slam.

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In the first set, Cilic broke the number two seed for a 4-2 lead. But Medvedev broke straight back courtesy of a Cilic double fault and set then went to the tie-break. The Croatian then took that decider for the loss of just three points and continued that dominance in the second set which he took by 6-3.

Medvedev got the breakthrough he was looking for when he snaffled the Cilic serve in the third set. And from there the Russian did not look back as he again broke at the start of the fourth set and marched purposefully towards the fifth.

In the decider, it was Medvedev who drew the first blood as Cilic’s serve was becoming more and more brittle. Cilic’s chance had come and gone while Daniil settled into his rhythm and established a 5-0 lead. Cilic clawed it back to 5-2 but that is as far as he got. Medvedev converted his fourth match after Cilic pushed a backhand long point to advance.

Meanwhile, French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic booked a spot in the fourth round at Wimbledon with a 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-5 win over Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. Barbora will take on world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, for a place in the quarterfinals after the Australian overcame her doubles partner, Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, to close out play on Centre Court on Saturday evening with a 6-3, 7-5 verdict.

Overcoming 56 unforced errors, Barbora edged the former world No.11 Anastasija in 2 hours and 30 minutes, in a match that saw her come from a break down three times in the first set.