TipResumen

PREVIEW

If you like your tennis full of big serving and heavy groundstrokes from the baseline then this Third Round match is going to be for you. Both Karen Khachanov and Marin Cilic will look to produce big first serves which will allow them to dictate rallies behind strong forehands and I don't think this will be a long match simply as both players should be able to run through some service games with a 'wham-bam' style of play. Marin Cilic will always be a popular dark horse to win the big titles on the hard courts with his game tailor made for this surface. He has a big serve and is a decent returner, while the former US Open Champion reached the Final at the Australian Open earlier in 2018 to prove he can go deep into Grand Slams across the world. Last week was a little disappointing from Cilic's point of view with the Quarter Final exit from the Canadian Masters coming in a tough luck situation against Rafael Nadal. Have no doubt that Cilic will feel he missed a big opportunity to beat the World Number 1, but the overall performance has to put him in a good position to have a deep run in Cincinnati and the US Open which begins in less than two weeks. Cilic has significantly improved his serving numbers on the hard courts in 2018 compared with 2017 and that has been a key to some of his successes. The break percentage is down, but he has won a higher percentage of return points which suggests he has been a little unfortunate on that side of his game and could have another strong run in him. There will have to be a healthy respect for Karen Khachanov who reached the Semi Final in Toronto last week before going down to Rafael Nadal. This has been a decent year on the hard courts for the young Russian and he has backed up that run with two wins in the main draw in Cincinnati and confidence has to be coursing through Khachanov at the moment. Khachanov has a very impressive serve which makes him a dangerous opponent especially on this court in Cincinnati. However the reason he has yet to really make a significant impact on the Tour is the return game which has proven to be an issue when he has stepped up to take on some of the better players on the Tour. It does feel like that will be the case here and that is where I think Cilic has enough of an edge to come through this Third Round match. There will be times the Croatian may get frustrated as he does have some difficulties to get into the Khachanov service games and he will have to avoid throwing away a loose service game in that situation. If Cilic can do that I think he will get his chances against the Khachanov serve and I will back the top ten player to win this match and cover the number.



PREDICTION

I will look for Marin Cilic to reach another Masters Quarter Final this summer by edging out Karen Khachanov in straight sets.