Mannarino upsets Cilic, to face Goffin in Japan Open final

Mannarino, 29, will face fourth seed David Goffin after the in-form Belgian eked out a 7-6(3) 7-6(6) victory over Argentina's Diego Schwartzman in the first semi-final.

Mannarino upsets Cilic, to face Goffin in Japan Open final

(Reuters)





In a fiercely-contested match, Cilic's powerful groundstrokes gave him a 5-3 lead in the first set but Mannarino fought back to force a tiebreak, which the Frenchman led 4-2 before losing five of the next six points.

Mannarino took advantage of Cilic's weaker backhand to take a 5-3 lead and although he lost his next service game, the 29-year-old broke the Croatian's serve to win the second set.

Mannarino won seven straight games to beat world number five Cilic and secure his first win over a player ranked in the world's top five.

Goffin and Schwartzman both saved break points as the first set went to a tiebreak and with the score tied at 4-4, the eighth-seeded Schwartzman made three straight errors to gift his opponent the set.

Belgian Goffin served for the match in the 10th game of the second set but a forehand error enabled Schwartzman to break back and force another tiebreak.

Goffin sealed victory on his second match point to extend his winning streak to eight matches after his Shenzhen Open triumph last week.

He moved up to 10th in the Race to London rankings and is still in contention for a place in the eight-man season-ending tournament.





(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world