Honeymoon over for Cilic in ATP Istanbul

Marin Cilic, back on the ATP circuit after getting married, has crashed out of the Istanbul Open to world No.78 Malek Jaziri.

Marin Cilic got back to tennis after his wedding only to suffer a shock defeat to Malek Jaziri at the Istanbul Open.

Top seed Cilic got married last weekend but could not transfer that honeymoon feeling into his day job, with world No.78 Jaziri prevailing 6-4 6-2 in Turkey.

Tunisia's Jaziri broke big-serving Cilic five times en route to topping the world No.4, to book a quarter-final berth against seventh seed Jiri Vesely.

Former US Open champion Cilic was left to rue a knee issue, while still laying all the plaudits on Jaziri.

"It was my first match and Malek played great," Cilic told the ATP Tour website.

"I had issues with my knee, so I wasn't serving that well. But all the credit to Malek, I tried to play aggressively and I didn't want to slow the pace down or be defensive."

Jaziri admitted he feels he is gaining in strength week by week, ahead of his last-eight meeting with Vesely.

"I'm really happy to win," Jaziri told the ATP Tour website.

"It's a very important match in my career. I've worked really hard to get this win over a top-five player. It wasn't an easy match as I needed to be focused every point, to keep my error count down.

"I feel as if I am improving my tennis and fitness every week."

Elsewhere in Istanbul, Thomas Fabbiano saw off second seed Damir Dzumhur 6-2 0-6 6-2, while Jeremy Chardy dispatched Dusan Lajovic 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.


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Source: AAP


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Honeymoon over for Cilic in ATP Istanbul | SBS News