Marin Cilic needed just under 74 minutes to dispatch of American Steve Johnson in the second round. Cilic now seeks his fifth ATP semifinal of the season.
Cilic Cruises
In tricky conditions with a gusty wind, sixth seeded Marin Cilic had little issue in taking care of unseeded Steve Johnson in straight sets by a score of 6-3, 6-3. Cilic was on point with his serve from the opening ball as he controlled the match off his racquet. The Croat won 75 percent of his service points and saved all five break points that he offered up. Johnson struggled at the start of both sets with his serve, which allowed Cilic to jump on him early. The sixth seed scored a break in the second game of the opening set and broke the American to open the second. Cilic secured his third service break of Johnson in the final game of the second set to clinch the match. Johnson was unable to find his best first serve, winning just 64 percent of the points. He was crushed when he was forced to use a second serve with Cilic winning 14 of 21 points.
Krajicek Moves Inside The Top 100
In other action on Thursday, qualifier Austin Krajicek started the day with another comeback victory. The American had pulled off a terrific escape act in his opening match against Matthew Ebden by rallying from a set down and trailing 5-3 in the second set for a 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) win. This time, Krajicek looked lost early after Joao Sousa won the opening set 6-2, but then found a groove to triumph 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. It was a monumental win for the Texas A&M product as he makes just his second career ATP level quarterfinal. The other came in Memphis earlier this season. Even bigger, the lefty will move inside the Top 100 in the rankings for the first time in his career. He joins eight other Americans in the Top 100, led by John Isner who started this week ranked 13th.
Other Results
The final two second round matches completed on Thursday, with Nick Kyrgios and Benoit Paire taking the last two quarterfinal spots. For Kyrgios, he ran roughshod over Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 6-2 in just 56 minutes. Kyrgios was superb on serve as he won 37 of 45 points and never faced a break point. He tossed in eight aces. The Aussie has a shot to make back-to-back semifinals with a win in the quarterfinal round after advancing to the semifinals last week in Kuala Lumpur. This is just Kyrgios' fourth quarterfinal of the season having made it that far at the Australian Open, The Estoril Open and last week at the Malaysian Open.
Paire won a back and forth affair with Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. The Frenchman opened strong with his first serve working well in winning 12 of 14 points in the opening set. His second serve was effective too as he was forced to go to it 19 times, winning 12 of those points. In the second set, the second serve failed miserably as Baghdatis took all ten points off Paire's second and broke him three times to even the match at a set each. In the third, Paire broke the Cypriot to open, and consolidated serve for a quick lead. By the fourth game though, Baghdatis would have broken back to 2-2. The two exchanged service holds to the 11th game where Paire scored the decisive break and then served out the match at love.
Quarterfinal Schedule
All four quarterfinals will take place on Friday with third seed Gilles Simon starting the day off against Gilles Muller. Simon beat Muller last month at the Moselle Open in Metz, France in straight sets. They will be followed by top seed Stan Wawrinka taking on qualifier Austin Krajicek. The third match of the day on Center Court will feature a repeat with second seed Kei Nishikori battling sixth seed Marin Cilic. The two met this summer at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. where Nishikori exacted some revenge for his 2014 U.S. Open loss to Cilic. The final singles match will pit Nick Kyrgios against Benoit Paire. The Frenchman won their only previous encounter in a five set thriller at the 2014 Australian Open 6-7 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.