US Open champion Marin Cilic continued his fine season by beating fifth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut in straight sets to win the Kremlin Cup on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Croatian — at a career-high eighth in the ATP rankings — fired 10 aces in a 6-4, 6-4 victory to dominate his first-ever meeting with Bautista-Agut.
Cilic is now the first Croatian to win in Moscow since his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, took the Kremlin Cup in 1996. In reaching the Moscow final, he also booked his spot in the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Photo: Reuters
The second-seed Cilic broke his rival’s serve halfway through the opening set before serving it out in 46 minutes and started the second set with an immediate break.
Bautista-Agut, who is 16th in the world, fought tooth and nail in his fourth career final to try to break back, but Cilic held his nerve to win his fourth ATP Tour crown this year and the 13th of his career.
At the award ceremony, Cilic promised to come back next year to defend his title.
“It’s one of my career’s most important titles because after winning a Grand Slam event, you lose a lot of energy and emotions and it was very important for me to bounce back,” the Croatian said.
Earlier, sixth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia claimed the WTA title in Moscow by beating Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in 2 hours, 28 minutes.
The women’s final got off to a nervy start that produced seven breaks of serve in the opening set before the 30th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova managed to settle down.
The Russian pocketed the set in 50 minutes, but it was Begu, playing in her fourth WTA Tour final, who dominated the second set to break serve twice and level the match.
In the decider, Pavlyuchenkova again moved up a gear to break twice for a commanding 5-0 lead that gave her a seventh title
“It’s just the best possible way to finish the season,” she said. “I just couldn’t have lost at home.”
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