Marin Cilic is now in his second career Grand Slam final. The Croat defeated Sam Querrey on Friday in what was a very entertaining match. The line score ended at 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-5. Cilic was down a break in the fourth set before holding serve and breaking Querrey twice to advance to the men's final. The only other time that Cilic has appeared in Grand Slam final was 2014 at the US Open. He was victorious in that match, defeating Kei Nishikori comprehensively.
Sam Querrey's best major ends
For Querrey, the match ends his best run in a Grand Slam event.
The American had previously made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, doing so last year before bumping into Canada's Milos Raonic. This year, Querrey certainly made major headlines as he was the player that took out Andy Murray. However, Cilic proved that he was a man for the bigger matches.
Nonetheless, Querrey will get 720 ranking points for a semifinal appearance. That total represents a gain of 360 ranking points relative to last season. Querrey should jump up to about the World No. 23 position on Monday. That puts him a couple good results away from getting to his career-high ranking of 17th. If he can carry his momentum into the American hard-court summer season, then he stands a great chance of challenging for a top-15 finish this season.
Cilic had bad start to season
For Cilic, the result clearly shows that he is at the top of his game. Early in the season, the former US Open champion actually struggled immensely with losses to very low ranked players such as Daniel Evans, one Jozek Kovalik, and Dustin Brown. That slump came in the aftermath of some very lengthy late-season matches in 2016 as part of Davis Cup play.
One chance for Cilic to win Wimbledon?
Cilic is not the type of player that can play tournament after tournament at a high level. For instance, in 2014, after winning the US Open, he basically went on hiatus with injury problems for most of 2015. But with a title at Wimbledon dangling in front of him, you know that he will be going all out in the final on Sunday.
Cilic, at the age of 28, still has time to get back to the Wimbledon final should he fall to either Roger Federer or Tomas Berdych. That said, the final could be a one-off opportunity for the Croat. He certainly doesn't always buzz around the late rounds of majors and he can only look at the Wimbledon 2017 final from one point of view: the match represents a once-in-a-lifetime chance for him to win tennis' biggest title.
