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The 39-year-old Swiss brushed Cilic aside in a one-sided first set but lost the second after a heated debate with the chair umpire over the time he was taking to towel down before Cilic served knocked him out of his stride.
Cuevas, ranked 92nd, showed flashes of resistance against the 34-year-old Serbian but the top seed raised his game when he needed to and produced some sublime winners off his backhand to keep alive his chase for a 19th Grand Slam title.
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| Roger Federer regained his composure during a heated battle with Marin Cilic to beat the Croatian in four sets |
Roger Federer lost his trademark cool but found some vintage tennis as he beat Marin Cilic 6-2 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2 to move into the third round of the French Open on Thursday.
The 39-year-old Swiss brushed Cilic aside in a one-sided first set but lost the second after a heated debate with the chair umpire over the time he was taking to towel down before Cilic served knocked him out of his stride.
Twice Federer has played big-serving Cilic in Grand Slam finals, winning both, and the duo’s 11th career meeting produced some high-octane tennis in a pivotal third set.
Cilic looked dangerous when he battled back from a break down but Federer raised his game in the tiebreak to move ahead.
A Cilic double fault gifted eighth-seed Federer a break for 3-1 in the fourth set and there was no way back from there.
Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Federer, who had played only three matches in 17 months coming into Roland Garros, closed out the match in clinical fashion to set up a third-round against Germany’s 59th-ranked Dominik Koepfer.
Earlier, world number one Novak Djokovic put on a clinical display to stroll past Uruguyan Pablo Cuevas 6-3 6-2 6-4 and reach the third round.
Cuevas, ranked 92nd, showed flashes of resistance against the 34-year-old Serbian but the top seed raised his game when he needed to and produced some sublime winners off his backhand to keep alive his chase for a 19th Grand Slam title.
Djokovic broke Cuevas’ serve a second time to go up 5-3 in the opening set but found himself 0-40 down on his own serve. The Serbian, however, grabbed the next five points to seal the lead on a sunlit Suzanne Lenglen court.
The 35-year-old Cuevas’s challenge fell away as Djokovic broke his opponent’s serve three more times to complete the win and set up a clash against Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis, who beat Australian James Duckworth 7-5 2-6 7-6(4) 6-0.
REUTERS
