Hong Kong Tennis Open: Marin Cilic lets victory slip but is grateful to be back
- ‘Compared with my physical level where I was four months ago, it’s night and day,’ the former world No 3 says
- Australian Open is the next challenge for the Croat, who was unable to convert five match points at Victoria Park
Marin Cilic was keen to seize the positives despite letting the initiative slip in a gruelling match with Jan-Lennard Struff at the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open on Tuesday.
The Croat squandered five match points in the second set of a hard-fought first-round encounter that lasted over three hours on Centre Court at Victoria Park.
He went on to lose the set in a tiebreak, and the third went back and forth before ending the same way as German world No 25 Struff progressed 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.
But after his first action since July, former US Open champion Cilic was “extremely happy” to even be on court, let alone in contention.
“I only had two singles match last year, and compared with my physical level where I was four months ago, it’s night and day,” he said. “I was so close to the victory, but those things happen.
“It’s difficult to judge the complete match just based on that, but I am very pleased – and of course a little bit of a sour feeling in the end.”