Marin Cilic started the defense of his US Open title with a straight sets victory over Guido Pella, who was looking for his first victory in New York in his third appearance. The defending champion had another great day on his serve; he hit 13 aces and just two double faults throughout the match.
Early break to take the set
Cilic broke Pella´s serve in the second game of the set. The Argentine hit a double fault thena forehand error did him in as he broke. The Croatian held to love to take a 3-o lead. In the sixth game, Cilic had another break point, but Pella saved it to stay alive in the set. The Argentine couldn´t attack his opponent's serve and with two aces, Cilic closed the set 6-3.
Throughout the set, Cilic lost just three points on his serve, and he hit 12 winners to five unforced errors. When you compare that to against Pella, he hit two winners and eight errors.
Solid game but the experience prevailed.
In the second set, both players were very solid with their serves. In the seventh game, Pella faced one break point, but he saved it with a good serve. The tiebreak started with one mini-break for Cilic, but he couldn´t consolidate the lead as Pella broke back. Then, it was the Argentine who couldn´t keep hold of the lead as the defending champion broke his serve three more times to take the tiebreak 7-3.
In the final set, Pella reacted well to that blow and broke Cilic early on in the third set. The world number nine broke back in the eighth game when the Argentine was serving to go up 5-3. He took one of the two chances he had over Pella's serve to equalize at four apiece. The two players then held serve as the set headed into another tiebreak.
Once again it was Cilic who held his nerves, as he broke Pella's five times on the way to another 7-3 to reach the second round in Flushing Meadows and to keep his hopes of be the first repeat champion since Roger Federer in 2007-08.