The crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium was in for yet another dramatic and thrilling day session as defending champion Marin Cilic and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took to the court to battle it out for a spot in the semifinals.
Although the first two sets did not provide for much entertainment from both sides of the court as Cilic dominated the scoreline, Tsonga was able to insinuate the plot twist and turn a simple match into a rather complicated one, but the Croat would gut it out in the end to make him the first man into the US Open semis.
Cilic takes first two sets
The first two sets proved to be relatively routine for Cilic as he edged both in similar fashion: relying mostly on his service games to pull him through. Both players started off with extremely solid service games, and remained on serve in the first set until the ninth game. The games started to get extremely tense during the latter part of the set, and during Cilic’s third service game, it was Tsonga who had four break point opportunities, but the Croatian was always able to come up with a good service on the big point.
During the ninth game, it too took Cilic three break point opportunities to break, and a next service game hold to consolidate and take the first set 6-4. It was actually Tsonga who hit eighteen winners in this set—seven more than Cilic's eleven—but Cilic whose serving statistics proved to be more beneficial.
The second set almost went forward in an identical fashion, although it saw Cilic improving his aces count from five to eight, and Tsonga improving his first serve percentage from forty three to sixty three. In this set, rather than edging the break later on, Cilic was able to break the Tsonga serve in the fifth game in lieu of a double fault from the Frenchman—in essence a double fault served at an extremely crucial point. Cilic did not concede a single break point opportunity in the set, and it seemed he would take the third set rather easily as he was getting more into the swing of things. The drama was yet to unfold however.
Tsonga stands his ground
What was interesting about the match was that the shift in momentum was rather sudden, because the players continued to play in a very similar way to the first two sets. Tsonga also began to get frustrated with the tape on his left leg, which was restricting his movement for the rest of the match. However, the Frenchman rose his first serve percentage once again to seventy one and won eighty two percent of said points. Moreover, he lost only one point on his second serve, and this became the reason for him not conceding any break point opportunities. After steadying himself by holding all his preceding service games, Tsonga was able to break Cilic in the eighth game at advantage, and then serve out the set 6-3. He still had some fight left in him.
Tsonga edges rollercoaster set
The set began in a tense manner, with the crowd willing on the Frenchman to raise his level and turn the match into a marathon, but both players were still adamant on their service games. The first signs of any shift in the scoreline was in the fifth game when Tsonga had one break point opportunity against the Croatian, but failed to convert.
It was during the tenth game, whilst Tsonga served to remain in the match, when the crux of the drama unfolded. The Frenchman found himself 15-40 down and staring in the face of two match points, which is when he decided to play some of the best points of the match. He strung together four beautiful points in a row, two of them huge forehand winners, to stop Cilic from taking the match.
Tsonga was down 30-40 in his next service game as well and the defending champion got his third opportunity to claim the match, but he hit an unforced error which took the game to deuce. Tsonga followed up with another emphatic winner and won the game to take the set into a crucial tiebreak.
The turning point in the tiebreak was most definitely at 2-2, when Cilic double faulted to hand Tsonga a mini break. Tsonga then steamrolled and held all his service points, further breaking Cilic again by forcing an error to go up 6-3. He won the set with a service winner and it seemed he was going to pull off a comeback victory similar to his 2011 quarterfinal vs. Roger Federer at the Wimbledon Championships. Whether Cilic could hold his nerve in the next set, or whether Tsonga would use the momentum and crowd to his advantage became the question.
Cilic finishes it off
When Tsonga started off the fifth set by going down 15-40, it seemed as if neither player was willing to hold on to the momentum, but the Frenchman once again saved break points and held his service game. It was next during the fourth game when the tables turned and Tsonga got the opportunity to break, but Cilic produced an ace to save the point and another to serve out the game.
He took this form into the next game and broke Tsonga at love, who once again double faulted at a critical moment. Tsonga then tried to get back into the set, but the Croatian would not let up during his service games, and only tripped when he was serving out the match. Here, Cilic was the one to botch his fourth match point by double faulting on it, and also conceded a break point opportunity, but he hit two winners in a row to hush the Frenchman and finally serve out the match.
Ultimately it became an extremely tough victory for Cilic, who could not close out the match until his fifth match point. He will need to assess his level of aggression for his next match, which will be against either Novak Djokovic or Feliciano Lopez in the semifinals.