Cilic keeps end of season finals hopes alive

2009/11/05

BASEL: Croatian fourth seed Marin Cilic stayed in touch for a possible place in the year-end final as he began the Swiss Indoors here yesterday with a defeat of German Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 6-4.

The German, also a first-round loser last week in Vienna, has gone a month without a decent result dating back six weeks ago to Metz, when he reached the quarter-finals against Richard Gasquet.

Gasquet was also in action yesterday and qualified for the second round with victory over Argentine Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Cilic, losing finalist at the weekend in Austria to home favourite Jurgen Melzer, needs a massive performance in the last three weeks of the regular ATP season if he is to make a run for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London from Nov 22.

The Croatian remains provisional 12th in the sprint for the last two spots in the year-end field, needing to nudge in front of provisional eight-placed Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

He must start with a title in Basel, no easy task with Roger Federer on hand and aiming for his fourth straight at home.

Marin Cilic beat Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Swiss Indoor tournament in Basel yesterday.

Cilic will face his second-round challenge against either Swiss sixth seed Stanislas Wawrinka or weekend Lyon victor Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

Gasquet earned a narrow win over the 42nd-ranked Zeballos with nine aces, saving both break points against his serve.

The Frenchman finally won a match after losing five of his previous eight, with the victory snapping a two-match losing streak in the first round.

On Tuesday, Novak Djokovic made a winning debut as the Serbian claimed a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Andreas Beck in the tennis stronghold of Roger Federer.

Djokovic took just under 90 minutes to move into the second round at the St Jakobshalle, where top seed Federer got his start in the game a decade and a half ago as a ball boy at the indoor event.

Djokovic, who leads the ATP with 67 wins, said he feels the presence of Federer around the grounds.

"Of course in his hometown and home tournament, all of the attention will be on him," said the Serbian sporting hero. "But I've found it fine here.

"I hope to repay the kindness by going on the court and getting as far as possible this week."

The player whose only experience in Basel was a qualifying loss in 2004, couldn't fault his opening main draw effort.

"For a first match (since Shanghai last month) I played well. My strokes were solid but I could have closed it out better in the second set." -- AFP