Haas puts heat on Cilic to finish job

Tommy Haas in action on No.1 Court against Marin Cilic, the match went the distance but bad light halted play towards the end of the fifth set. Germany’s Tommy Haas needed just six games in the Saturday sunshine to secure victory over Croat Marin Cilic in a topsy-turvy match, which had been left on a knife-edge when it was suspended in the twilight on Friday night. Haas eventually emerged the victor 7-5, 7-5, 1-6, 6-7 (3-7) 10-8 in a total match time of four hours and 28 minutes. Both players looked very nervous as they stepped on No.1 Court with the score locked at 6-6 in the fifth set (Click here to read the full match report). However it was experienced Haas - who, at 31, is 11 years older than his opponent - who made the vital breakthrough in the 17th game of an epic set. After four games went with just a few points lost on serve, Haas forced a 15-40 advantage when the Croat could only clip a Haas backhand which whizzed down the line. He duly snapped up the game on his first opportunity when a Cilic forehand sailed long following a powerful Haas return. Haas then staved off two immediate break-back opportunities before holding his nerve to clinch the set 10-8 when Cilic forced a backhand long. Haas said afterwards: "It was a long match, a tough battle yesterday with so many ups and downs. Mentally it drains you for sure. You're always thinking about the next round in your head but you just want to finish the job. "I was very nervous. I don't know if my experience helped pull me through in the end as in all my years i've never had a match suspended at 6-6 in the fifth set. It was dramatic." Cilic echoed Haas' comments: "I was feeling well before the match. But when I stepped inside, when we started to play points, I was a little bit nervous. I think he dealt with it a little bit better and got an edge in the end. " Court 1 - Gentlemen's Singles - 3rd Round Tommy Haas GER (24) 7 7 1 63 10 Marin Cilic CRO (11) 5 5 6 77 8

Wimbledon Day 5 - Marin Cilic goes for a strong backhand

Haas and Cilic locked in thriller

Tommy Haas gives 100% to try and win the point with a big serve against Marin Cilic. A four-hour marathon on No.1 Court was suspended in the gathering darkness at 9.33pm with Marin Cilic and Tommy Haas standing level at 5-7, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) 6-6 in the final set. By the time they were forced to give in to the failing light, both men had saved two match points in an encounter that swung unpredictably this way and that. Early on this match looked like being an unmitigated disaster for Haas, 31. The 11-year age gap between the players yawned as 20-year-old Cilic blasted away from the baseline. The German was obliged to save two break points to prevent a 0-4 scoreline. But he managed it, inching his way on to the scoreboard at 1-3. Openings were few for him, even on his own serve, and he also produced double faults at the most unwelcome moments. But he hung on and stayed in touch, although for what seemed a long time he could make no impression on the Cilic serve. Then Haas held to love for the first time for 5-3, and the one-time world number two seemed to take heart from it. Next game a netcord helped save a Cilic set point, and then suddenly a double fault from the Croatian handed his opponent a thoroughly unexpected break point. Crucially Haas got the first serve back, and in the subsequent rally Cilic put a potential winner wide. It was 5-5. Haas was gaining confidence visibly, typified by a beautifully judged lob. Meanwhile, errors were creeping into Cilic’s game at exactly the wrong time. Haas forced a break point for 6-5 with an unreturnable forehand, and not only converted it, but served out to love. Out of nowhere, it seemed, he had won the set. Haas managed to carry enough momentum with him into the second set that he avoided the disastrous opening period of the first. It was sufficiently hard work that that at 3-3 he uttered what sounded very much like an audible obscenity when fluffing a shot on Cilic’s serve, but he received no warning. A tiebreak looked inevitable until just as before, out of the blue the set turned. At 5-5 Haas found himself with a break point and controlled the rally superbly to convert it. Cilic saved three set points at 5-6 but a fourth was too much and Haas took the set. Perhaps it was finally beginning to show that Cilic – seeded for the first time this Wimbledon – came into the tournament with no grasscourt form, having lost in the first round at Queen’s. Haas, meanwhile, arrived in SW19 as the newly-crowned champion on the lawns of Halle, having overturned the odds there to defeat Novak Djokovic in the final. Yet still the pattern of this match this evening felt like a shock. But to vocal encouragement from the very visible Croatian support in the crowd, Cilic broke at the start of the third. He was five games up before Haas could stop the rot but it made no difference. Cilic sent down successive aces to capture the set 6-1. At the start of the fourth set Haas was moving stiffly, and seemed to be having discomfort in his left foot. But as far as the score was concerned he was back on track. At 5-4 on serve Haas had two separate match points, but could do nothing with either and the set went to the tiebreak. Cilic took command of it and the match moved into the fifth. By now Haas was tiring, and the 11-year age gap was beginning to show for real. Cilic broke at the first opportunity and got to 3-0 before the match turned again and Haas pegged him back to 3-3. Once again Cilic broke, and once again Haas levelled. At 5-6, in the last game of the night before play would have had to be suspended in any case, suddenly Cilic at last found a way through again to grab two separate match points, and this time Haas saved both to leave the match on a knife-edge at 6-6.

Cilic wins battle of big hitters

Marin Cilic The battle of the big hitters between California and Croatia went the way of Europe in the late evening on Centre Court when Marin Cilic outlasted Sam Querrey in a five-set marathon 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 in three hours 24 minutes. Cilic, at 20 a year younger than the American, recovered from an uncertain start that could easily have seen him fall two sets behind. Instead he mounted a brave recovery in which Querrey was eventually the first of these 6ft 6in athletes to blink, going match point down on his third double fault before striking a backhand long as Cilic sank to his knees in a mixture of exhaustion and delight. For much of this gripping encounter, it was Querrey's ability to produce an ace - he hit 24 of them - that kept the eager Croatian at bay when he mounted his recovery after dropping the opening set in 37 minutes That recovery did not get under way until dangerously late in the second set when Querrey had established a seemingly unassailable 5-2 lead. The 11th-seeded Cilic needed a touch of good fortune, and found it when he broke the Querrey serve with an outrageously lucky net cord that fell dead into the American's side of the court. Having extended the set to a tiebreak, Cilic ran away with it by seven points to three and he kept up the momentum by taking the third set comfortably and then breaking Querrey at the start of the fourth. It was time for Querrey to live up to his reputation of power man, and he duly obliged. This was the player who once served 10 aces in a row and 34 in all to beat James Blake in 2007, so it was no surprise as the aces piled up. Cilic's authority started to waver and then cracked in the second tiebreak of the match, which Querrey won by seven points to four. All square after two hours and 52 minutes. It had now become a question of whether darkness would end this battle before one of them suffered a break of serve. Then, with a 5-4 lead to Cilic, it was Querrey who turned out to be the victim of the dagger thrust. There was more good news for Croatia as the 6ft 10in Ivo Karlovic defeated Belgium's Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to join Cilic in the third round. Centre Court - Gentlemen's Singles - 2nd Round Sam Querrey USA 6 63 3 77 4 Marin Cilic CRO (11) 4 77 6 64 6