After defeating Alexander Bublik 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 on Wednesday, Marin Cilic advanced to the round of the final eight in the grass-court competition at Queen’s.
This competition serves as a tune-up for Wimbledon, which is where Marin Cilic of Croatia made it all the way to the final in 2017, only to be defeated by Roger Federer in straight sets.
Cilic, who is 33 years old, has been in fine form as of late, and he competed well enough at this year’s French Open to reach the semifinals before being defeated by Casper Ruud.
Denis Shapovalov, who reached the semifinals of Wimbledon the previous year, was eliminated in the first round of the Queen’s Championships on Wednesday. The sixth seed lost to Tommy Paul of the United States in three sets.
The first set was won by Paul by a score of 6-4, while Shapovalov evened the score by winning the second set by a score of 6-2.
Paul, though, kept his cool and won the decisive match 6-4.
Emil Ruusuvuori, a qualifier from Finland, defeated Jack Draper, a player from Britain, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Ruusuvuori, ranked 56th in the world, was in fantastic shape, hitting 29 winners and forcing nine break points.
When they take on Denis Kudla and the number 35 player in the world on Thursday, defending champion Matteo Berrettini and three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka will attempt to join Cilic and Ruusuvuori in the round of eight.
The event at the Queen’s Club is one of the last opportunities for players to boost their rankings prior to the beginning of the hard-court season. This is because there will be no points up for grabs at Wimbledon this summer as a result of the decision by the All England Club to ban competitors from Russia and Belarussian as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.