NEW YORK — Unable to play in the U.S. Open a year ago because of a doping suspension, Marin Cilic is now the tournament’s champion.
Croatia’s Cilic won his first Grand Slam title by beating Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday at Flushing Meadows, using 17 aces – including four in one game – and the same powerful groundstrokes that helped him eliminate Roger Federer in the semifinals.
“This is (from) all the hard work in these last several years – and especially this last year,” Cilic said during the on-court ceremony, when he kissed his silver trophy and collected a check for $3 million.
The 14th-seeded Cilic prevented the 10th-seeded Nishikori from becoming the first man from Asia to win a major singles championship.
“Tennis has not been our biggest sport in Japan,” Nishikori said. “Hopefully I can win next time.”
There hadn’t been a matchup between players making their Grand Slam final debuts at the U.S. Open since 1997. Lopsided and lasting less than two hours, this hardly qualified as a classic.
“Both of us were pretty nervous in the first set, especially,” Cilic acknowledged. “When we got ourselves going, it was a bit better.”
Nishikori stunned No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, and this was the first Grand Slam final since the 2005 Australian Open without Djokovic, Federer or Rafael Nadal, who won the U.S. Open in 2013 but is sidelined now by a wrist injury. That trio had won 34 of the past 38 major titles, but this was the second of this season that eluded them.
Photo via Susan Mullane/USA TODAY Sports Images
