Marin Cilic made history on Tuesday (September 24) after beating Chinese star Zhang Zhizhen to claim the Hangzhou Open. It was the former World No.3’s first tour-level title of his career since 2021.
The 35-year-old arrived at Chengdu having last competed in a tour-level event at the Argentina Open in February. The World No.777 was handed a wildcard by the tournament organizers and did well to prove he earned after coming from behind to beat American Zachary Svajda 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 in the first round.
He continued in like fashion beating Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-1 before going on to beat Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) in the quarterfinals. It was in the semifinals, that the Croatian caused the tournament’s upset after beating Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 7-6(6) to reach the final. In the final against Zhizhen, Cilic rolled back the years with an excellent performance that exceeded his ranking, hitting the ball better than his opponent to earn a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) victory.
The World No.777 dropped just two sets to become the lowest-ranked champion in the ATP since 1990. He took the record away from Lleyton Hewitt , who won the Adelaide Open in 1998 while ranked No.
550. World No.777 Lowest ranked player to win a title in whole ATP Tour history Marin Cilic pic.
twitter.com/lFP81GOmyI Cilic has been ranked down at No.777 since 2023 after playing just three tour-level matches last year.
He missed the majority of the 2024 season due to a knee injury. However, the 2014 US Open winner .
