French Open men's draw opened up as vintage Marin Cilic performance ends Daniil Medvedev hopes
- Michael Graham
- 31 May 2022
Daniil Medvedev still awaiting first title on clay as Marin Cilic rolls back the years at the French Open.
The bottom half of the French Open men's draw has opened right up after Daniil Medvedev was sent packing by Marin Cilic.
Medvedev has never won a tournament on clay, but he still went into the match as the second seed and world number two.
He also got lucky with the draw, with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz all in the other half.
The Russian would have also been buoyed by seeing world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas crash out earlier in the day to Danish teenager Holger Rune.
It appeared that the stars were aligning for Medvedev to make a run for the final, but Croatian veteran Cilic had other ideas.
Medvedev did little wrong on the night, but he was simply overpowered by a vintage Cilic performance before sinking to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 defeat.
"It was an absolutely fantastic match, from the first point until the last," Cilic said on court afterwards. "I enjoyed the atmosphere, I enjoy the night sessions here.
⚡ A lightning-fast three set win by No.20 @cilic_marin tonight:#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/vkEWoNVcvc
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 30, 2022
"I played incredible tennis, one of the best matches of my career, from start to finish, and I just enjoyed being here.
"We only have one opportunity to play this sport so I try to always give my best, even when things don't go my way.
"When you're working hard and when you're really persistent, really consistent with your training, good things come. It's a great feeling to be playing again like this."
Although he has fallen from the upper echelons of the game in recent years, Cilic is a former US Open champion and Wimbledon and Australian Open finalist.
The result means that either Cilic, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud or Holger Rune will now make it to the final at Roland Garros.
