Paris Masters 2018 Quarter Final - Novak Djokovic vs Marin Cilic: Preview and Prediction
The soon-to-be world number 1 Novak Djokovic will face world number 7 Marin Cilic in Paris Masters Quarter Final. This will be their third meeting this year.
Djokovic’s performances in the second half of the season have been nothing short of magical. During this period of utter dominance, he has won two Grand Slams and two Masters 1000 tournaments. On 5th November, he is going to be world number 1 again after a gap of two years. Going by his current form, he is likely to stay put there for quite some time.
His pursuit for a fifth Paris Masters did not exactly get off to a flying start, as he struggled mightily against Joao Sousa in the opening round. But he regrouped in the nick of time to win the first set 7-5, and after that, he was his usual dominant self.
Even then, he could win only 26 return points as opposed to 27 by his opponent. This was certainly unexpected from the greatest returner among this generation of tennis players.
But he was much more fluent in his next round, against Damir Dzumhur. He won the first set comfortably, and then Dzumhur retired while trailing 1-2 in the second set. So, Djokovic comes to the quarter-final, quite rested and fresh.
On the other hand, his opponent in the quarter-final, the fifth seed Marin Cilic has had two solid, if not spectacular wins in his first two matches in Paris Masters. He was impressive in both his matches against two top players – Philipp Kohlschreiber and Grigor Dimitrov.
Cilic has had an up and down season – a season that saw the high of him reaching the Australian Open finals and the low of crashing out in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships where he was a finalist the previous year.
Cilic has lost 15 matches to Djokovic out of the 17 they have played against each other. So, on paper, it seems like another easy Djokovic victory. But there are a couple of things to consider here.
Of their three most recent matches, it is Cilic who has won two to Djokovic’s one. This year itself, Cilic has been able to defeat him at the Queen’s Open final. But what will give the Croatian a lot of confidence is that when they had met at the same stage in Paris Masters two years ago, it was he who had defeated Djokovic in straight sets.
Cilic will certainly draw inspiration from that victory over the Serbian. He has the game to trouble anyone on his day. But on the evidence of how well his opponent is playing now, it is unlikely it will be his day when he plays Djokovic in the quarter-final.
Prediction: Djokovic to win in straight sets