Local boy Cilic stars in Zagreb

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:16

Cilic, the second seed who was playing in his home town, scored a comfortable 6-4 6-3 victory over veteran Frenchman Arnaud Clement in Monday’s first round.

The hugely promising 20-year-old fired down 12 aces and will face Marc Gicquel or Florent Serra next up as he looks to make it to round three for the first time at the fourth attempt.

Another Croatian, Ivan Ljubicic, had it even easier and needed less than an hour to dispatch Belgium’s Christophe Rochus 6-4 6-1.

Ljubicic, who has slumped from a high of three to 48 in the world rankings, has a stunning record at the event where he has never failed to make the final since the inaugural tournament in 2006.

It was world number 255 Antonio Veic, however, who was the toast of Zagreb after the wild card shocked Argentina’s Guillermo Canas 4-6 6-4 6-2.

Veic, ranked 255th in the world, was making his debut in the event and lost his only previous match on the main ATP Tour in July.

In today’s other match first-round match Teimuraz Gabashvili prevailed 6-3 6-4 in an all-Russian clash with Mikhail Youzhny.

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