Marin Cilic turned in a powerful performance in Sunday’s final at the Western & Southern Open, defying fatigue for his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown.

Cilic stunned top seed and two-time Cincinnati champion Andy Murray 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 34 minutes, pestering the Scot with a relentless barrage of formidable first serves and forehands. The Croatian has found immediate success with new coach Jonas Bjorkman, notching his 15th tour-level title in total.

It was just the fifth title by a player outside of the Big Four of Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal since 2010 (54 of 59). In addition, Cilic joins the foursome and Stan Wawrinka as the only active players to win both a Grand Slam and a Masters 1000 title, having lifted the trophy at the US Open two years ago.

“I thought I was going to have a good chance if I played well,” said Cilic, who finished his semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov at 1:35am. “I didn’t feel too tired yesterday in the evening. It was obviously very difficult mentally. It was very humid on the court. We were sweating a lot, so a lot of up and downs, especially in the third set. I had to work out the positive and negative emotions and that took a bit of energy.

“But I went to sleep around 4:00 and woke up a little bit before 11:00. That was enough to recover. I felt that I played really good tennis today. The serve was a big factor in my game. I was hitting a lot of big serves in important points, and I was definitely very mentally strong in that second set. Andy was starting to play a bit better, but it’s definitely a huge win against him. He’s been on a great run the past couple of months.” 

Non-Big Four Masters 1000 Titlists (since April 2010)

Cilic executed his gameplan brilliantly in relentlessly attacking off the ground and continuing the trend of first serve dominance. He leaves the tournament with a staggering 85 per cent first serve points won. The 27 year old raced to a two-break lead in the first set and would eventually close out the opener after 41 minutes. Neither player flinched through the first 10 games of the second set, but it was Cilic who capitalised on a fifth break point for the decisive 6-5 lead. He closed out the title on his first match point.

Less than 15 hours removed from the 1:35am finish against Dimitrov, Cilic showed little signs of fatigue. Murray, meanwhile, was contesting his 11th match in 15 days after capturing the gold medal at the Rio Olympics. He was bidding for a 40th tour-level crown and 13th at the Masters 1000 level.

Previously the Cincinnati champion in 2008 & ’11, having defeated Novak Djokovic in both finals, Murray was looking to join Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Mats Wilander as the only players to lift the trophy at least three times in the Open Era. The Dunblane native saw his 22-match win streak snapped, also suffering his first final defeat to an opponent not named Novak Djokovic since 2012.

Cilic, who takes home $834,700 in prize money, soars back into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings to a projected World No. 9. He claimed multiple Top 10 wins in a tournament for the first time since his major title run in New York, having also downed Tomas Berdych. Cilic’s run to the title is even more impressive considering he was 0-8 in Masters 1000 quarter-finals entering the week.

Murray saw his lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series trimmed to 11-3. The Scot rallied to claim their lone previous final encounter at the 2013 Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club. He earns 600 Emirates ATP Rankings points and $409,270 in prize money.

“I’m very proud of this week,” said Murray. “Obviously today it didn’t go how I would’ve wanted. But I certainly didn’t expect to get to the final when I arrived here. I had some pretty good wins along the way. Today there were tough, tricky conditions with the wind.

“I think if I got off to a better start maybe could have done a bit better. I had a break point in his first service game and Love-30 in his next service game. I was pretty much behind from that point on and it was tough. But it’s a very, very positive week. I’m looking forward to a few days’ rest now.”

Winston-Salem Last U.S. Stop: The final U.S. tournament of the season on the ATP World Tour, the Winston-Salem Open, features three players in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, led by top seed Richard Gasquet, wild card Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Cuevas. The trio are all making their Winston-Salem debut. Kevin Anderson is the reigning champion and 2014 winner Lukas Rosol is also in the field.

Gasquet Top Seed: For the second year in a row (third in past five years) a Frenchman is the top seed in the 48-player draw. Last year Gilles Simon was a wild card entry and top seed (l. 2R after bye). In 2012, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the top seed. Gasquet comes in as the top seed in an ATP World Tour tournament for the 13^th time in his career, second this year. He’s won three titles as the top seed: 2007 Mumbai, 2013 Moscow and Montpellier this year. The 30-year-old Frenchman enters with a 23-10 match record on the season. In February, he captured his 13^th career ATP World Tour title in Montpellier (d. Mathieu). He also reached his first quarter-final at Roland Garros (l. to Murray).

Defending Champion: South African native Kevin Anderson, who defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert in last year’s final, is making his fourth appearance in five years in Winston-Salem (6-2 record). Prior to last year, he reached the third round in 2014 (l. to Querrey) and the second round (after bye, l. to Gulbis) in 2012. This season, Anderson has been slowed by injuries. He retired from two matches and withdrew from eight tournaments due to left knee and right shoulder injuries. He also underwent minor left ankle surgery on March 15. His best results are quarter-finals following first-round byes at Auckland (l. to Sock), Nice (l. to Sousa), Nottingham (l. to Johnson) and ATP Masters 1000 Toronto (l. to Wawrinka). He is coming off a third-round showing at the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati (l. to Murray).

Bautista Agut Makes Debut: No. 2 seed Bautista Agut is making his Winston-Salem debut. The 28-year-old Spaniard enters with a 34-15 match record on the season (23-8 on hard courts), highlighted by his third and fourth career ATP World Tour titles respectively at Auckland (d. Sock) and Sofia (d. Troicki).

Johnson Top American: No. 4 seed Steve Johnson is playing his first tournament as the top American in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old Californian surpasses John Isner, who has held the top American spot every week since 29 July, 2013. After a 6-14 start this season, Johnson has turned things around by compiling a 20-7 record in his last eight tournaments. This is Johnson’s fourth straight appearance in Winston-Salem and last year he reached the semi-finals (l. to Herbert). He is coming off his first career Masters 1000 quarter-final in Cincinnati (l. to Dimitrov). He also posted his second career Top 10 win over No. 10 Tsonga. Here is a look at Johnson’s “season of firsts”:

– Top American in Emirates ATP Rankings (career-high No. 21 on 25 July)

– Won ATP World Tour singles (Nottingham) and doubles titles (Nice w/Querrey)

– Top 10 win (d. No. 10 Gasquet in London/Queen’s Club)

– Fourth round at Wimbledon (l. to Federer)

Teenagers Meet Again: Junior rivals and #NextGen American teenagers Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe square off for the second time as pros after meeting five times in juniors (three in singles, two in doubles). Fritz is looking for his first win. In March, Tiafoe edged Fritz in three sets in the first round in Indian Wells. The 18-year-old rising stars booked a practice court together for Saturday morning but when the draw was released on Friday evening, plans changed. Both players have made huge jumps in the Emirates ATP Rankings from a year ago. Fritz, who has climbed from No. 678 at this time last year to a career-high No. 54, is making his Winston-Salem debut. Tiafoe, who was No. 275 at this time last year, is ranked a career-high No. 123. He won his first career ATP World Tour main draw match here last year (d. Duckworth).

Kokkinakis Returns: Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis makes his first main draw appearance on the ATP World Tour since last October in Stockholm. Last season, Kokkinakis reached a career-high No. 69 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 18 June. He comes into Winston-Salem ranked No. 455. He has a protected ranking of No. 81.

Doubles Draw: The top two seeds in the draw are the first-time duo of Lukasz Kubot & Nenad Zimonjic and Mate Pavic & Michael Venus, who are four-time ATP World Tour winners this season. Last year’s champions Dominic Inglot & Robert Lindstedt are playing with different partners this year. Inglot is playing with Marin Draganja while Lindstedt is teaming with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. 

Butorac Farewell: Eric Butorac, a finalist last year with Scott Lipsky, is playing in his second-to-last pro tournament and final ATP World Tour event. He plans to retire after the US Open. On 3 August, Butorac was named by the USTA as Director of Professional Tennis Operations and Player Relations. Butorac, who also served as president of the ATP Player Council from 2014-16, captured 18 ATP World Tour doubles titles, winning at least once for 10 consecutive years from 2007-16. 

In Case You Missed It

Marin Cilic wins his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title over Andy Murray. Read

Find out how the Cincinnati final was won. Read

Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo become the first team in six years to win Toronto and Cincinnati back-to-back. Read

Veteran Florian Mayer is rediscovering his game on the Challenger Tour. Read

Roger Federer triumphs in Cincinnati Golden Moment voting. Read & Watch

Birthdays

21 August – Nicolas Almagro (31) 

Ranking Movers

+19 Yuichi Sugita (83)

+14 Florian Mayer (59)

+10 Grigor Dimitrov (24)

+10 John Millman (81)

+9 Borna Coric (40)

+9 Malek Jaziri (53)

Milestones

Winston-Salem Singles

Paul-Henri Mathieu – 274 wins

Yen-Hsun Lu – 148 wins

Malek Jaziri – 46 wins

Winston-Salem Doubles

Mate Pavic – 72 wins

Paolo Lorenzi – 24 wins