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.
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.
