Marin Cilic Defeats Milos Raonic to Earn Istanbul Crown for Second Career Clay Court Title
Marin Cilic
(May 7, 2017) Marin Cilic earned his second career clay court title on Sunday beating Milos Raonic 7-6(3), 6-3 for the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open title.
It’s the Croatian’s 17th career ATP World Tour tennis title and he did it without dropping a set all week. He’ll move up to No. 7 in the rankings next week.
This was Raonic’s first clay court final. The Canadian is back on tour after suffering a hamstring injury back in February.
“I’m on a good track and feeling very well,” Cilic said. “In these last three or four weeks on clay, it’s never easy, but I’m trying to get better with every match. This week was a big one for me and a good sign for the rest of the clay-court season. I hope I can improve in these upcoming three tournaments – two Masters 1000 events and the French Open.”
“The tennis was good and I achieved a lot of the things I would have liked,’ noted Raonic. “Of course I didn’t achieve the ultimate thing, but I got a much better understanding of how I need to play on clay and I got to play four matches. These are all positive things at the end of the day.”