Perfect Muller To Face Cilic In Queen's SFs
Marin Cilic will have to beat in-form Gilles Muller, who is perfect on grass-courts in 2017 with a 7-0 record, if he is to reach his second Aegon Championships final. Cilic won the pair's only previous meeting in two tie-break sets at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
Fourth seed Cilic, the 2012 champion, produced another solid service performance in beating Donald Young 6-4, 7-5 in 86 minutes. Having lost one of his first-service points in his first two matches, Cilic wasn’t quite as prolific, however the Croatian did win 28 of his 33 first-service points and 16 of 16 second-service points against Young. Cilic broke serve at the end of each set, including the conversion of his fourth match point chance in a 16-point final game.
“I'm playing really well on grass,” said Cilic. “I'm looking forward to Wimbledon, but still keeping my feet on the ground and working day by day and just focusing on my game to keep it steady and keep it consistent.
“[Muller] is going to be the first guy that I'm going to meet, apart from [John] Isner, serving and volleying, and obviously with his lefty serve he's really dominant on his service games on grass. He is playing really well and last week he won a title. It's definitely going to be tough match for me, but I’ve just got to focus on myself. I think it was good today that I played against Young, a lefty swinging serve.”
Muller, who won his second ATP World Tour title of the year on the grass of the Ricoh Open last week, saved two set points in the second set to beat 2010 titlist Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6(5) in 81 minutes.
Mixing up his service speed, an aggressive Muller broke in the third game of the opening set. It was to be the only break point chance until the 12th game of the second set. Muller had given nothing away on his serve, but when the Luxembourg native let slip a 40/15 lead, due to volley and forehand errors, Querrey got two set point opportunities. Although Querrey led 5/3 in the tie-break, Muller was able to regroup and win four straight points.
"I'm going to play in the semi-finals here for the first time tomorrow," said Muller. "I lost in the quarter-finals the past two years, so I'm really happy that I was able to go one step further. I mean, now that you're so close, you want to go all the way. Tomorrow is going to be a tough match, but I'm looking forward to it."
Sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov recorded his 15th match win at The Queen’s Club, where he captured the 2014 title, by beating the impressive #NextGenATP Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 46 minutes. Through to his third semi-final at the tournament (also 2012, 2014), Dimitrov will now challenge seventh seed Tomas Berdych or Feliciano Lopez, who he beat in the final three years ago.
"It wasn't easy to play the game that I wanted today, so I played a little bit more slice and simplified my game. I just had to count on certain weapons and play well at the right moments," said Dimitrov. "It's been awhile since I've felt that good on the court, so I'm going to try to use that momentum and focus entirely on my side."
He'll take on Feliciano Lopez, who saved a match point to survive a marathon battle against seventh seed Tomas Berdych 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-5. Lopez erased the match point on his serve at 4-5 in the deciding set, then scored the lone break of the match in the next game before ultimately advancing in two hours and 27 minutes.
"It was tough to accept the way the match was going because it was almost impossible to return. We were both serving great, so there was a lot of drama on the court today," said Lopez. "It's an amazing feeling when you win these matches and it's extra confidence for tomorrow."
Dimitrov leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Lopez 2-1 and has won their past two matches, but both victories went to a tie-break in the deciding set.
Source: http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/cilic-muller-lopez-london-queens-2017-friday
Fourth seed Cilic, the 2012 champion, produced another solid service performance in beating Donald Young 6-4, 7-5 in 86 minutes. Having lost one of his first-service points in his first two matches, Cilic wasn’t quite as prolific, however the Croatian did win 28 of his 33 first-service points and 16 of 16 second-service points against Young. Cilic broke serve at the end of each set, including the conversion of his fourth match point chance in a 16-point final game.
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| Gilles Muller hit 12 aces like Sam Querrey, but held his nerve on the big points to reach the Aegon Championships semi-finals on Friday. |
“[Muller] is going to be the first guy that I'm going to meet, apart from [John] Isner, serving and volleying, and obviously with his lefty serve he's really dominant on his service games on grass. He is playing really well and last week he won a title. It's definitely going to be tough match for me, but I’ve just got to focus on myself. I think it was good today that I played against Young, a lefty swinging serve.”
Muller, who won his second ATP World Tour title of the year on the grass of the Ricoh Open last week, saved two set points in the second set to beat 2010 titlist Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6(5) in 81 minutes.
Mixing up his service speed, an aggressive Muller broke in the third game of the opening set. It was to be the only break point chance until the 12th game of the second set. Muller had given nothing away on his serve, but when the Luxembourg native let slip a 40/15 lead, due to volley and forehand errors, Querrey got two set point opportunities. Although Querrey led 5/3 in the tie-break, Muller was able to regroup and win four straight points.
"I'm going to play in the semi-finals here for the first time tomorrow," said Muller. "I lost in the quarter-finals the past two years, so I'm really happy that I was able to go one step further. I mean, now that you're so close, you want to go all the way. Tomorrow is going to be a tough match, but I'm looking forward to it."
Sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov recorded his 15th match win at The Queen’s Club, where he captured the 2014 title, by beating the impressive #NextGenATP Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 46 minutes. Through to his third semi-final at the tournament (also 2012, 2014), Dimitrov will now challenge seventh seed Tomas Berdych or Feliciano Lopez, who he beat in the final three years ago.
"It wasn't easy to play the game that I wanted today, so I played a little bit more slice and simplified my game. I just had to count on certain weapons and play well at the right moments," said Dimitrov. "It's been awhile since I've felt that good on the court, so I'm going to try to use that momentum and focus entirely on my side."
He'll take on Feliciano Lopez, who saved a match point to survive a marathon battle against seventh seed Tomas Berdych 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-5. Lopez erased the match point on his serve at 4-5 in the deciding set, then scored the lone break of the match in the next game before ultimately advancing in two hours and 27 minutes.
"It was tough to accept the way the match was going because it was almost impossible to return. We were both serving great, so there was a lot of drama on the court today," said Lopez. "It's an amazing feeling when you win these matches and it's extra confidence for tomorrow."
Dimitrov leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Lopez 2-1 and has won their past two matches, but both victories went to a tie-break in the deciding set.
Source: http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/cilic-muller-lopez-london-queens-2017-friday
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