US Open: A look at the last 5 players to win their maiden Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows
The US Open is the oldest Grand Slam tournament after Wimbledon. It is the only Grand Slam tournament to have been played on all three surfaces (1881-1974 on grass, 1975-1977 on clay and from 1978 onwards on hardcourts).
The US Open is the culmination of a seven-week North American outdoor hardcourt swing on the tour. Most top players arrive at the second hardcourt Grand Slam event of the year after an exhausting season which opens the door of opportunity for the new or less established ones to make a big run or a major breakthrough at the last Grand Slam event of the year.
Let us have a look at the last five players to have made their major breakthroughs at Flushing Meadows:
#5 Marin Cilic (2014)
Marin Cilic arrived at the 2014 US Open with loads of confidence following a haul of two titles earlier in the season.
The Croatian was put to a stern test in the fourth round where Gilles Simon took two sets off him. Cilic had to dig deep to overcome the Frenchman in a five-set encounter and then went on to beat Tomas Berdych in straight sets for his second Grand Slam semi-final berth.
Cilic stunned the tennis world with a spectacular performance against five-time champion Roger Federer that the Swiss had no answer to. In the final, he met Kei Nishikori who knocked out Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final, thus guaranteeing a first-time Grand Slam champion in New York.
Cilic rode on his fabulous shotmaking to overpower his Japanese opponent in straight sets that gave him his first and only Grand Slam trophy till date.
The win enabled Cilic to become the lowest-ranked Grand Slam winner since the 44th ranked Gaston Gaudio edged Guillermo Coria in the 2004 French Open final.