Marin Cilic wins Hangzhou title and makes history

Marin Cilic is back on the road to victory, overcoming a nasty knee injury and lifting his first ATP trophy since 2021! The 35-year-old Croatian had a great week in Hangzhou, He won his 21st ATP title and made history.

Cilic, ranked 777th, became the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP crown since the ATP Tour was founded in 1990. Marin started the 2023 season in the top 20, but everything went wrong for him in the opening week.

The Croatian withdrew from Pune due to knee problems and embraced the most challenging period of his career. The former major champion had made a slow comeback and remained without an ATP victory until last week. The 2014 US Open winner turned the tables at the ATP 250 event in Hangzhou, fending off a match point in the quarterfinals to set up the title fight against home star Zhizhen Zhang.

The most experienced player won 7-6, 7-6 in one hour and 50 minutes to claim a much-needed title and make a huge leap up the ATP rankings.

Marin Cilic won an ATP title at the 777th place!

Nothing separated the two rivals as they fended off two break points each, going neck and neck from start to finish. Marin claimed three more points, keeping his composure in both tiebreaks and securing his 13th season with an ATP title to his name.

Cilic denied two break points in the first game of the encounter, and Zhang did so at the start of set number two. The more experienced player fell behind by one point on the first shot and delivered three mini-breaks that put him over the top.

The Chinese had a huge chance to take the lead early in the clash, which produced his only break points. He missed a forehand on the first and made a routine backhand on the second, preventing his rival from an early setback.

They served well in the remaining games, which led to a tiebreak. The servers were too strong in the first ten points, and remained neck and neck.

Zhizhen made a costly forehand error on the 11th point, which put him behind and allowed Cilic to take the set with a forehand winner at 6-5.

The home player felt the pressure and faced two break points in the first game of the second set. He saved them and presented another tight set, with nothing for the returners to work with in the remaining games. Marin opened with a forehand winner and claimed two points on serve for 3-0.

Zhang pulled back the mini-break on the sixth point after a wild smash from his opponent to tie it at 3-3. They served well over the next five points, with the Croat painting an ace at 5-5 for a match point. He drew his rival’s backhand error, delivered the crucial mini-break and celebrated his first ATP title in three years.