Marin Cilic (photo ©si.robi) reached the final defeating Marcos Baghdatis, Illya Marchenko, Kevin Anderson, Gilles Simon, Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer. So far he lost a total of three sets: one to Anderson and two to Simon. This is his first final in a Grand Slam tournament.

Kei Nishikori reached the final defeating Wayne Odesnik, Pablo Andujar, Leonardo Mayer, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic. So far he lost a total of five sets: two to Raonic, two to Wawrinka and one to Djokovic. This is his first final in a Grand Slam tournament.

At the beginning of the match both players are tense and their percentages with their first serve are low. Kei Nishikori has a break point in the first game but Marin Cilic wins his service game. After a few games, the Croatian is the first to loosen up a bit and uses this advantage to break the Japanese and rise to 4-2. In the ninth game Cilic closes the first set 6-3.

In the second set Kei Nishikori also gets into the game but Marin Cilic plays better than him and in the third game and breaks him. The Japanese tries to fight back and in the next game has two break points but the Croatian has become cold in the important moments and wins his service game. The level of the match is improving and Cilic shows why he reached the final in the sixth game making the so-called perfect game, winning it with four aces and in the next game breaks Nishikori again to rise to 5-2. At that point, maybe he feels a little tension because he serves for the set but loses his service game. It’s just a little delay because in the next game Cilic breaks his opponent again to win the second set 6-3.

In the third set the level of the match is good and Kei Nishikori plays well his first service games but in the fourth game Marin Cilic breaks him to go on 3-1. The Japanese still tries to react and several rallies are long and spectacular. In the seventh game Nishikori has a total of three break points but doesn’t play tehm at his best and the Croatian wins his service game. In the ninth game Cilic wins the third set 6-3 to conquer the match and his first Grand Slam title.

Marin Cilic was considered a rising star a few years ago. In 2010 he also entered the top 10 of the ATP rankings and reached the semifinals at the Australian Open. However, he couldn’t maintain that level and, despite winning some tournaments, seemed destined to continue his career as a good player but nothing more. Worse still, last year he was disqualified for using a banned substance, even though he was considered superficial in controlling the ingredients of a supplement and not trying to increase his performance. At the end of 2013 he started working with Goran Invanisevic and that seems to have helped him after the end of the disqualification.

Kei Nishikori rose to the spotlight in 2008 when he won the Delray Beach tournament at 18. Unfortunately for him, over the years he suffered several injuries that often limited him. The perfect example of his career is this year’s Madrid tournament: he reached the final, he was dominating against Rafael Nadal but ended up having to retire due to a back problem. So far, in the Grand Slam tournaments he had only managed to reach the fourth round, on different occasions.

In this final between two players at their first experience in a Grand Slam final, Marin Cilic is the one who has got over his moments of tension and was able to better handle the match from a nervous point of view. This shows that his progress weren’t only technical but also mental. Kei Nishikori paid the tension losing the first set and when he really came into the match the gap was already wide.

This edition of the U.S. Open ended showing the world that two new players who at least at some point have played at extraordinary levels. Both are still young so they’ll have other chances but will also have more pressure on them. Marin Cilic played a masterpiece semifinal against Roger Federer, in which he was the underdog, while struggled more in the final. However, he proved that he can handle the pressure of a Grand Slam final and this is crucial for his future.

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