Things looked dicey at a set apiece and trailing 3-1 in the third, but Juan Martin del Potro found his range at just the right time to beat Marin Cilic and return to the French Open semifinals.
It was a match played over two days—del Potro and Cilic were deadlocked at 5-all in the first set tiebreaker on Wednesday when play was stopped for the night because of persistent rain.
The match resumed at noon on Thursday and after two quick points, del Potro had the opening set in his pocket. They stayed on serve through 4-all in the second set, and that’s when Cilic pounced, breaking serve for 5-4. While del Potro broke back for 5-all, Cilic reeled off five of the next six games to not only tuck away the second set, 7-5, but storm out to an early 3-1 lead in the third set.
“I felt that when I won the second set, the momentum was on my side,” Cilic said. “I was playing a little bit better. I started to be the one who was controlling the game. I had 2-0, 15-40 for a double break. Then at 3-1, another break point and a makeable return. I didn’t, and things turned around.”
The No. 5-seeded del Potro wouldn’t budge on his serve from then on, though, never getting broken again. All the while, he broke the No. 3-seeded Cilic three times to advance, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.
WATCH—Match point from Del Potro's win over Cilic in the quarterfinals:
