Marin Cilic crashes out of Wimbledon after losing to Guido Pella in five sets
Croatian third seed knocked out of Wimbledon while world No 1 Rafael Nadal motors through
Friday 6 July 2018 12:28, UK
Marin Cilic crashed out of Wimbledon on Thursday after suffering a five-set rain-interrupted defeat to Argentina's Guido Pella.
The third seed, who came into Wimbledon as one of the favourites for the title having won the Fever Tree Championships at Queen's Club, suffered one of the worst results of his career after reaching the Australian Open final and French Open quarter-finals earlier this year.
"I was just not feeling as comfortable as yesterday with my hitting. I was not as accurate and I was just missing some easy balls, giving him a chance to come back," said former US Open champion, Cilic. "It was not just the pressure. It was me not executing my shots on the court well enough.
"It's still obviously big disappointment to lose in second round. Obviously I played really well in these last few weeks so definitely disappointed."
Cilic had taken the opening two sets against the world No 82 but went down to a surprising 3-6 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 defeat.
When rain forced the tie to be postponed on Wednesday evening, Cilic was leading by two sets against an unheralded opponent who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year.
But the Croatian, who lost to Roger Federer in the 2017 final, collapsed once the match resumed on Court One and Pella took full advantage to set up a third-round clash with Mackenzie McDonald.
"Yesterday he was playing so good, hitting the ball so hard that I couldn't do anything," Pella said. "So the rain helped me a lot. Today I played differently, tried to be more aggressive, he started to feel uncomfortable.
"I tried to hit the ball hard and fight for every ball and I think in the end that's why I won. I felt much more confident, served better and was so calm until the end. I'm very happy."
World No 1 Rafael Nadal made it to the third round with a comfortable straight sets victory over Mikhail Kukushkin.
The Spanish second seed came through 6-4 6-3 6-4 on Centre Court against the world No 77.
Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion, faces Australia's Alex De Minaur on Saturday for a place in the last 16.
He played very well," Nadal said of his opponent. "I'm happy to be through, I think I played much better today."
"I went on court with the determination to play at the right intensity. Happy for the victory and happy with way I played. I feel ready to compete."
Nick Kyrgios also coasted into the third round with a 6-3 6-4 7-5 against Robin Haase.
Kyrgios will now face Kei Nishikori after the Japanese player came from a set behind to beat Bernard Tomic 2-6 6-3 7-6 (9-7) 7-5.
Teenager Denis Shapovalov lost 0-6 6-2 6-4 7-6 to Benoit Paire. Juan Martin Del Potro won 6-4 6-1 6-2 against Feliciano Lopez. Third seed Alexander Zverev was trailing by two sets to one when his match against Taylor Fritz was suspended.
We have Wimbledon covered from all angles via our website skysports.com/tennis then click through to our dedicated section skysports.com/tennis/wimbledon. On the move? Head to our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation.
Our next tennis action comes from the German Open in Hamburg. Watch the action live on Sky Sports Arena from Monday, July 23 from 10am.
Never miss the big kick-off or have to deal with interrupted games or low-quality streams with a NOW TV Sky Sports Pass this summer. You'll get exclusive coverage of the 147th Open from Carnoustie, The Ryder Cup, ATP Tour, World Darts Matchplay, and loads more starting from just £7.99. No contract.
