Tokyo: Top seed Marin Cilic crashed out of the Japan Open tennis tournament in a shocking 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(1-7) defeat to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round, Tuesday.
The former US Open champion looked to be in complete control after pocketing the first set with a brutal drive volley, but things quickly unravelled for the Croatian when Struff suddenly caught fire.
After Struff, ranked 56 in the world, had levelled the match, normal service appeared to have resumed in the deciding set. Cilic, who reached the final of this year’s Australian Open, broke for 3-2 with a peach of a backhand that dipped viciously onto Struff’s toes, but the German struck back, not once, but twice to force a tie-break.
Struff smashed the tie-breaker, snaffling it 7-1 with his ninth ace to complete the upset after two hours, 18 minutes. The German next plays Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who edged a war of attrition with Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
However, with Cilic out of the tournament, it will boost Kei Nishikori’s hopes of winning a third Japan Open crown after the local favourite won the tournament in 2012 and 2014.
Osaka sails through
Beijing: US Open champion Naomi Osaka produced a ruthless display to thrash unseeded American Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-0 in just 53 minutes to surge into third round of China Open here, Monday. The 20-year-old Japanese, whose maiden Grand Slam was overshadowed by Serena Williams’s row with the chair umpire in New York, faces 10th seed Julia Goerges next in the Chinese capital.