Marin Cilic claims first ATP win since January 2023 | ATP Tour

Hangzhou

Cilic scores first ATP win since January 2023

Trungelliti made it through the qualifying round in Hangzhou

September 18, 2024

If you want something, you have to work for it. And Marin Cilic knows that well, after a long period of dealing with injuries, he returned to celebrate a victory on the ATP Tour for the first time since January 2023.

The Croatian came from behind in the first round of the Hangzhou Open against American Zachary Svajda by 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 in one hour and 59 minutes, taking advantage of the wild card granted to him by the organisers in the tournament that opens this season on the Chinese hard court.

“It means a lot,” Cilic said after his victory. “It means a lot to me, to my team, who have been with me through this long, boring and difficult time. Two operations, a lot of recovery, rehabilitation and training. I am very happy to be healthy, to enjoy being on the court and to be physically 100% again.”

The PIF ATP Rankings No. 777 had tried this course in Hong Kong (l. to Struff), the Australian Open (l. to Marozsan) and Buenos Aires (l. to Djere), which combined with his loss in Davis Cup qualifying (l. to Bergs) left his record this year at 0-4 heading into the Asian swing.

However, the former World No. 3 relied on his serve, with 14 aces and 88% of first-serve points won (35/40), to build on his first victory since January 2023. Cilic then beat Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena to advance to the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 in Pune, India.

More than a year and a half later, the Croatian has won another ATP Tour match and now has 583 victories under his belt. He will try to add another in the second round in Hangzhou against the winner of the clash between No. 8 seed Yoshihito Nishioka and Germany’s Maximilian Marterer.

Hungarian Fabian Marozsan also successfully completed his first-round matches in Hangzhou, becoming the first player to win a match in the history of the tournament. The seventh seed beat Luca Nardi 6-0, 6-2 in one hour and 10 minutes.

Veteran Mikhail Kukushkin, meanwhile, stunned No. 5 seed Luciano Darderi 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 39 minutes. The Kazakh broke a one-year winless drought. Not only did he open his winning streak in 2024, but he did so again since October of last year at the ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai.

Kukushkin will face either his compatriot Alexander Shevenko or Argentine Marco Trungelliti in the second round, who was able to get through the qualifying round in Hangzhou. The world No. 138 needed one hour and 25 minutes to defeat Australian James McCabe 6-2, 6-3.

This will be the first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between Trungelliti and Kukushkin at ATP Tour level, although a few weeks ago in the qualifying phase of the US Open they already met in the first round, with the Argentine winning hard by 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) on the hard court of Flushing Meadows.

Trungelliti will play his fourth ATP Tour main draw of the season, having previously played in Barcelona (third round), Hamburg (second round) and Umag (second round), always starting from the qualifying phase.