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  • Cilic vs. Andreev in marquee Pilot Pen quarterfinal

    8/21/08 6:26 AM | Ricky Dimon
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    Marin Cilic will clash with Igor Andreev on Thursday for a spot in the New Haven semifinals. Will it be the No. 4 seed or the No. 6 seed advancing?

    It will be the third head-to-head meeting for Cilic and Andreev when the two players square off in the Pilot Pen quarterfinals to conclude Thursday's night session. The outcomes of their first two encounters were not surprising. Cilic won on the fast carpet of Zagreb, Croatia back in 2006, while Andreev got revenge this season on the clay courts of Gstaad. A more neutral surface--although one that still could give a slight edge to Cilic--in New Haven could result in their closest clash yet.

    Andreev, however, has a minor advantage in terms of recent form and confidence. The Russian boasts a stellar 15-5 match record since Wimbledon and he has not lost a first-round match since Hamburg. So far this week he has rolled over Olivier Rochus 6-3, 6-4 and Victor Hanescu 6-4, 7-5.

    Cilic upset Andy Roddick en route to a quarterfinal appearance at the Masters Series Canada, but he has failed to build on that momentum since then. The 6'6'' Croat, seed sixth this week, lost to Nicolas Lapentti in the Cincinnati first round before getting crushed by Fernando Gonzalez in the second round of the Olympics. He has started to turn things around this week by getting past Viktor Troicki (via retirement) and Jurgen Mezler (7-5 in the third set).

    A stark contrast in styles will be on hand and the match will come down to which man can better impose his play on the other. Andreev wants to get into as many rallies as possible and overwhelm his opponent with heavy topspin from the back of the court. Cilic needs to serve big and get into net at opportune times in order to prevent that from happening. Unless Cilic's serve improves dramatically as compared to his win over Melzer, look for Andreev to keep his hot streak going right into the semifinals.

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