Marin Cilic brought Kyrgios’s entertaining run in London to an end on Saturday with a 7-6(3) 7-6(4) victory, the top seed reaching the final at the event for the fourth time.
A high-level showdown full of thundering serves boiled down to two tiebreaks in which the ice-cool Cilic proved the more composed player to set up a Sunday showdown with former world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
Unseeded Djokovic was given some trouble by Jeremy Chardy in the opening set but prevailed 7-6(5) 6-4.
World No.6 Cilic did not offer up one break point opportunity one hour and 25 minute meeting with Kyrgios.
“It’s special to play here and I’ve played great tennis throughout the week and it’s great to have another shot at the title,” the 2012 Queen’s champion said.
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“Nick is serving so good and it was tough to get a look on the service returns. As expected a couple of points made the difference in the tiebreaks.”
Wildcard Djokovic seemed agitated at times as Chardy proved a tricky opponent.
The Frenchman made several errors in the tiebreak though and was broken at 4-4 in the second – the only break of serve in the day’s two semifinals – before Djokovic sealed the win.
He has a 14-1 winning record over Cilic but might be second-favourite on Sunday with the Croatian in superb form.
“I will play with two racquets! One in the right hand and one in the left hand!” Djokovic said when asked how he would cope with the power of Cilic’s serve.
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