Carlos Alcaraz will meet Marin Cilic in the Round of 16 of the 2022 Western and Southern Open. The match will be played on Thursday August 18th, 2022.
Carlos Alcaraz is the third seed here at the Western and Southern open and is ranked 5th in the world. The Spanish super-talent has really set the ATP Tour alight over the past couple seasons and has firmly established himself as one of the best players in the world. He has an incredible 43-8 record this season and has already claimed four titles, and will be hoping to add to that tally here. After receiving a First Round bye, he defeated Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2 in the second. He is the favorite here against Marin Cilic, but will be wary of the Croatian’s experienced and strong recent results.
Marin Cilic is the fourteenth seed here at the Western and Southern Open and is ranked 17th in the world. He has a 25-14 record on the season after an inconsistent start, but has been outstanding lately with Semi-Final runs at the French Open and Queen’s. After defeating Jaume Munar 6-3, 6-3 in the First Round he overcame Emil Ruusuvuori in three tough sets. Fatigue may be setting in here, and it doesn’t help that he will have to play one of the most dynamic young players in the world in Carlos Alcaraz. Make no mistake, Cilic certainly has a shot here with his huge serve and experience, but he is definitely the underdog.
This has the potential to be a tough match for the Spaniard, but I expect him to win comfortably here. Marin Cilic is a fantastic player, but his biggest weapon, his serve, has not been firing lately and he will need that to be at 100% to have a chance here. Also, Alcaraz loves these slightly slower courts, and you can expect that he will sit behind the baseline, moving the big Croatian around and utilizing the drop shot to perfection. It won’t be a walk in the park but Alcaraz will be too much for Cilic to handle and I am backing him to win in two sets here, moving on to yet another Masters-1000 Quarter-Final.