Cincinnati (AFP) – Freshly crowned Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray defeated Canadian No. 1 Milos Raonic 6-3, 6-3 to book a spot in the ATP-WTA Tour’s Cincinnati final where he will face Marin Cilic.
Murray has had to overcome fatigue associated with the quick turnaround from the Rio Games gold medal match, while Cilic will have less than 12 hours of rest before taking the court for Sunday’s final.
That’s because his 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 semi-final victory over Grigor Dimitrov was delayed two hours by rain and didn’t finish until 1:20 am Sunday (5:20 GMT).
Cilic has reached a first Masters 1000 final on his 71st attempt.
“I was twice a break down in the third set, I didn’t play good tennis today. It was not easy to play but I managed to win,” he said.
Murray said he is also feeling the effects of playing a lot of tennis in a short period of time.
“It’s better for me to be finished now, but I’m not going to be fresher than Marin or Grigor,” said Murray, winner of 50 matches this season. “I’ve played a lot of tennis. This week has been hard for me coming from Rio.
“Because I’ve won a lot the last few months, keeping the matches shorter is something that has been good, especially this week for sure.
“I’m in another final now. Go I’ll go out there and give it a good go tomorrow and get a few days break before getting ready for New York.”
Murray will be playing in his seventh straight final after winning his 22nd consecutive match. He owns four titles in 2016 and has defeated Raonic five times since January.
Murray broke in an opening game interrupted for 15 minutes by raindrops, with Raonic contributing two double faults.
Murray won his eighth match from 11 meetings with Raonic as the pair played a re-run of July’s Wimbledon final won by the Scot.
Murray is mounting a strong bid to displace Novak Djokovic from the number one ranking.
If he were to win the title for a third time he could trail Djokovic by a scant 815 points.
– Kerber shoots for top spot –
Angelique Kerber also has No. 1 on her mind as she moved to the brink of the top WTA ranking by holding off Simona Halep 6-3, 6-4 move to the final.
The German Olympic silver medalist is poised to replace Serena Williams on the top spot if she can defeat 15th seeded Karolina Pliskova after the Czech upset Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-1, 6-3.
Williams has been the number one for 183 straight weeks.
“There is still one match to go and I will not think yet about this,” Australian Open winner Kerber said after reaching her second final at the venue.
“If it happens, it will be amazing. I have to focus on a match against a tough opponent.”
Kerber stands 4-2 over Pliskova.
Kerber and third seed Halep — winner of her last 13 matches — were delayed an hour by rain and then interrupted for 30 minutes.
The German won despite breaking a string on the final point.
“I was just hoping the ball would fly in,” Kerber said. “I’m so happy to have beaten such a tough player. I tried to stay positive and think that I could win.
“I was feeling my rhythm and believed in myself. It feels good to be in the final again.”
At 17 in the world, Pliskova is the lowest-ranked finalist at Cincinnati since 2008, when number 21 Natalie Petrova won the title. Muguruza was overwhelmed with just seven winners and 23 unforced errors.
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