Marin Cilic produced a clinical performance on Monday to reach the Miami Open presented by Itau Round of 16.
The 32-year-old earned a single break in each set to defeat #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4 in 75 minutes. Cilic is through to the Round of 16 in Miami for the fourth time. The 2014 US Open champion achieved his best result at this ATP Masters 1000 event in 2013, when he reached the semi-finals (l. to Murray).
“[It was] my third match in a row on the same court and I just got used to the conditions,” said Cilic. “I felt quite good on the ball today and I returned well. I felt that I put a lot of returns back in comparison to the first two matches. It was a very good performance and definitely something motivating for the next matches.”
This marks the first time that Cilic has claimed three consecutive wins since last year’s Australian Open. The World No. 45 survived three-set battles against Federico Coria and 13th seed Cristian Garin to book his first ATP Head2Head meeting against Musetti.
Cilic will meet fourth seed Andrey Rublev or 29th seed Marton Fucsovics for a spot in the quarter-finals. The 2013 semi-finalist owns one win from three ATP Head2Head clashes against Rublev and is unbeaten in two matches against Fucsovics.
Musetti was making his second appearance at a Masters 1000 tournament. The 19-year-old, who is the youngest player in the Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, claimed straight-sets wins against Michael Mmoh and 23rd seed Benoit Paire in Miami. Musetti also reached the third round on his Masters 1000 debut in Rome last year.