Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic will clash in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters 2018, after winning their matches in straight sets. The Serbian leads Cilic 15-2 in the head-to-head tally.
Djokovic is through to yet another quarterfinal this season after making easy work of his third round opponent Damir Dzumhur. In the second set, Dzumhur was compelled to retire from the match due to an injury. As a result, the reigning Wimbledon champion needed just a little under an hour to win the match with 6-1, 2-1.
Cilic, on the other hand, defeated the ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-6(5), 6-4. The Croat produced eight aces and maintained a first service win rate of 83% to reach the quarters.
The two players have already met each other twice this season. They first met in the final of ATP London where Cilic won to claim his first singles trophy of his season. They again met in the semifinal of Cincinnati Masters where Djokovic won the match in three sets to eventually win the tournament.
It is fair to say that event is no longer the same after the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic owing to their respective injuries. It also led to the Paris crowd to boo Nadal once the decision was announced.
Nonetheless, Nadal’s exit means that Djokovic is set to become the World No. 1 on Monday. Moreover, with the Spaniard gone, the top half is completely open, with one of Jack Sock, Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov, Borna Coric and Dominic Thiem to make it to the final.
Many top seeds are set to compete in the third round – Dominic Thiem will face Borna Coric while the defending champion Jack Sock will face Malek Jaziri. We will also see Alexander Zverev go up against Diego Schwartzman.
Things are definitely more interesting in the bottom half of the bracket, with Kei Nishikori set to meet Kevin Anderson. Similarly, Roger Federer will face Fabio Fognini – both of whom enjoyed a bye into the third round.
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