Goffin beats Cilic to reach semifinals
Print Edition
DAVID Goffin defeated Marin Cilic 7-6 (4), 6-4 on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the best result so far of the Belgian’s career.
Cilic was the second higher-seeded player to lose to 15th-seeded Goffin, who upset No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round. Cilic lost to Goffin nearly two weeks ago on clay in Belgium in Davis Cup.
Goffin needed a third-set tiebreaker to beat Wawrinka after the 25-year-old Belgian served for the match at 5-3 in the second and third sets. The 10th-seeded Cilic fell to 0-8 in quarterfinals at Masters 1000 events.
“I knew that on my serve I had to battle to win every service game because sometimes he can serve bombs and in 10 seconds can win his games,” said Goffin, who fell down at 5-4 in the first set. “It was just bad for me, but at the end I stayed focused in the tiebreak. It was the key of the match to win the first set and be more relaxed in the second to play much better.”
Another bigger and taller opponent awaits Goffin in the semis, Milos Raonic. Raonic served and volleyed his way to a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Gael Monfils.
“It’s good in tennis that you don’t have to be big or a tall guy to be good. Otherwise I had no chance to get in the top 20,” said Goffin, ranked 18th. “Maybe I’m quicker. I can take the ball earlier than a big guy. Of course I don’t have a big serve. I have other weapons. That’s why tennis is a nice sport.”
Victoria Azarenka shut out Magdalena Rybarikova 6-0, 6-0 in 67 minutes to reach the women’s semifinals. She will play Karolina Pliskova, who beat 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2 in an hour.
Azarenka broke Rybarikova six times and connected on 60 percent of her first serves. Rybarikova had 25 unforced errors and just nine winners. After losing the first set, she took a medical timeout to have her upper thigh taped heavily.
Azarenka has dropped one set in four matches so far; when she won Indian Wells in 2012, she also dropped just one set. She has won 11 of 12 matches this year.
“Confidence for me this year comes from being very well prepared and feeling healthy,” she said. “What I want to do on the court is apply things I have been working on the practice court and bring it to the matches because I feel that was going to push me to get better results.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
