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TENNIS
Federer Beats Cilic for the Tenth Time in the Second Round at Roland Garros
The chances are good for the Swiss to go deeper in Paris.
I think most of us suspected that Roger Federer’s second-round match against former US Open champion Marin Cilic wasn’t going to be as straightforward as his first round. The two have history: they played each other ten times before — twice in Grand Slam finals — and both arrived in Paris a little out of form.
After 2018, Cilic struggled a lot with knee injuries and hadn’t regained his best form ever since. He used to be a top ten player, but these days he’s ranked at 47, and it doesn’t seem like his career is moving upwards at thirty-two years old. Federer is still testing the waters — after two knee surgeries and skipping most of the 2020 season — and trying to get back on form.
Therefore, yesterday’s match was far from spectacular. The two struggled with service games, missed a lot of breakpoints, and had a tough time accepting the umpire’s, at times, very peculiar decisions.
Cilic has started the match sluggishly, lost his serve twice early on, and gifted the first set to Federer (6–2). The second set was the exact opposite. Federer dropped his serve in the second game and started arguing with the umpire…
