A very good week of tennis at the Fever-Tree Championships at Queens Club in London draws to a close on Sunday when Marin Cilic takes on Novak Djokovic for the title and a decent prize fund as well as a confidence boost going into Wimbledon.
Both men are no stranger to silverware but despite everything they have won in the past I expect this to be a competitive match. It would be Djokovic’s first title since his return from injury and for Cilic it would be a rare win over a big nemesis from his past.
Marin Cilic
The number one seed has made it through to this final in his dominant style. This is the second year in succession he has made it into the finale and having been beaten last year I’m sure he will be eager to get the job done this time around. His serve has been firing nicely and he’ll need it to be his big asset here.
There are two things that has impressed me with the Croatian this week. He has remained composed even when things have got tight and he has played three big servers in succession and he has got into a lot of return games which can be tough against bombers on grass especially when it is the weak part of your game.
Novak Djokovic
I got the feeling at the beginning of the week that this was just an exercise in getting back on the grass for Novak Djokovic with no expectation on his shoulders but he began very well and he has not looked back since and now the landscape might just have changed. He will be extremely energised to win his first title of 2018.
Djokovic has yet to lose a set in this tournament and only Jeremy Chardy has run him remotely close in truth. There are two ways of looking at that. He is clearly in good form despite a soft part of the draw but it could leave him vulnerable if this turns into a battle in hot conditions. We saw in the French Open that when the pressure arrived he lacked the power to turn things around the longer matches went on.
Head to Head
If Novak Djokovic were to need a confidence boost going into this final he only needs to look at the past record between these two men where he has a 14-1 advantage. He did win the first 14 matches between the two before Cilic won their last meeting in Paris a couple of years ago. They have met twice on grass, both at Wimbledon. Djokovic has won both of those matches, one in straight sets and another in a deciding set.
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Betting
I think this could be the time for Marin Cilic. Djokovic hasn’t really faced a power player this week and on this surface the Croat has the power to take the racquet out of the Serb’s hands so it could well come down to whether Cilic believes he has the beating of Djokovic.
I sense he is a different player now with a much better mentality since a lot of those defeats to Djokovic and if he can serve well in this match he should have an advantage. Even if Djokovic returns well, Cilic has improved enough on the ground to back up his initial delivery so as long as he believes he can win and takes the game to Djokovic I fancy him to get the job done.
Tips
WON – Back M.Cilic to beat N.Djokovic for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Betfair
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