Posted:
#226
Novak Djokovic- Marin Cilic
Novak
had to come back from two sets down to beat Kevin Anderson in the Round
of 16 , but the match was spread over two days and I doubt it would
have taken too much out of him. He faces another big server today in
Marin Cilic and one who took him to five sets here last year at the same
quarter final stage. That was their only ever meeting on grass and you
would think that would give Cilic great confidence, but upon closer
inspection, I am not quite so sure how much hope that the Croatian will
take from that, or any of their previous meetings.
Djokovic
leads the h2h 12-0 and apart from that match up last year ,Cilic has
only won three sets, two of which were tie breaks and the last 20 sets
that the Serbian world number one has won in this series have seen an
incredible 18 won by three or more games and 12 by four or more
(including 6 of the last 7), given how strong the Cilic serve is, those
are stunning stats. In that "close" match in 2014, Novak actually won
the handicap by +9 games and the likelihood today is that any sets Cilic
wins will be breakers and those that Djokovic wins will be by 3+ games,
it gives a lot of leeway with the handicap game line of -7, which was
the margin by which he actually beat Anderson.
Nole
has reached at least the semi finals of 19 of the last 20 grand slams
and is looking to do so for the sixth year running at Wimbledon, Cilic
has only twice in 30 attempts made it beyond the last 8 in slams and it
is hard to see either record changing today and I take the Serbian to
dominate big the sets he does win. In the last fast court meeting
between the two, at the end of last year, Cilic won just 5 of 21 points
on second serve and only 52% on first and Djokovic clearly has a massive
read on his service action, even more so than he does on anyone else !
Novak Djokovic -7 games 2.07 Pinnacle Sports/Sportmarket Pro.
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