Mr. Experience

Cilic is a dinosaur on the tour but he still has the hunger to win

Once again a good level shown by Cilic this year, he’s stepping up and beating solid guys, you can count on him. Small downside on slow tournaments though, his big results this year have come in fast conditions where he can get his serve and his power to work. Careful, he’s still seriously strong and tough from the baseline, but his results are weaker when it’s slow, I need to see him on clay. First match of the year on this surface by the way, I’m not sure he’ll be ticking over like clockwork. On this small Court 9 I don’t have a good feeling for the Croat...

It’s also because he’s up against Shevchenko that I’m leaning this way: I find him too good lately, he still can’t be consistent across every tournament/match but the momentum is great and he’s gaining confidence! He’s already played Bucharest and came through qualies here, so he’s already got a few clay matches in his legs, everything’s going well for him. I like the small court, he’s strong in this type of match and in a big tournament his attitude rises and gives him an extra boost compared to elsewhere. First meeting between them so we’ll have to really gauge the match-up; given day one and what we take away from the matches, it doesn’t favor Cilic, who might run out of answers if his serve doesn’t impact the game as much as usual. I give the edge to Shevchenko in these conditions, the Kazakh seems to be in a good period that’s ripe for big performances!