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  • It's Fish vs. Cilic for Pilot Pen title

    8/23/08 5:18 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Mardy Fish will clash with Marin Cilic in the New Haven final on Sunday afternoon. The winner will take a ton of momentum into next week's U.S. Open.

    Mardy Fish and Marin Cilic will do battle for the first time in their careers on Saturday night in new haven. The Pilot Pen title is on the line, not to mention the last U.S. Open Series crown of the season and valuable momentum heading into the year's final Grand Slam event.

    Momentum is exactly what Fish needs, as his 2008 campaign has mostly been a struggle. The American started off the year in mediocre form before storming out of almost nowhere to reach the final of the Masters Series Indian Wells. There he upset Nikolay Davydenko and Roger Federer before Novak Djokovic ended Fish's run in the title match. This week's No. 8 seed then endured a dismal summer slump, but he righted the ship with a semifinal showing in Los Angeles. After a first-round exit at last week's Legg Mason Classic, Fish has defeated Wayne Odesnik (three sets), Marc Gicquel, Jesse Levine, and top-seeded Fernando Verdasco (three sets) in New Haven.

    Cilic's semifinal win was far cleaner and more impressive than that of Fish even though it came against the 434th-ranked player in the world. The 6'6'' Croat, ranked 31st in the world, took out qualifier Luka Gregorc 6-3, 6-3 after getting past Viktor Troicki (via retirement), Jurgen Mezler (7-5 in the third set), and Igor Andreev. Cilic appears to be back on the rise in his up-and-down season. The No. 6 seed upset Andy Roddick en route to a quarterfinal appearance at the Masters Series Canada last month, but he failed to build on that momentum by losing to Nicolas Lapentti in the Cincinnati first round and getting a beatdown courtesy of Fernando Gonzalez in the second round of the Olympics.

    Count on a close, hard-fought battle in the final because Fish and Cilic bring similar games to the table. Both men wield big serves, and while their forehands are huge at times, they are more steady off the backhand wing. This match will come down to which player can serve better and choose the right times to go for winning forehands. Cilic has looked better throughout the course of the week, so expect him to make all the right moves and capture his first ATP title.

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Did you know that... While in high school, Andy Roddick played basketball with fellow pro tennis player Mardy Fish.

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