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Match details
Fixture: (3) Marin Cilic vs Alexei Popyrin
Date: 27 February 2021
Tournament: Singapore Tennis Open
Round: Semifinals
Venue: Singapore
Category: ATP 250
Surface: Indoor hardcourt
Prize money: $300,000
Match timing: Not Before 3 pm local time, 12.30 pm IST
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | India - Discovery
Marin Cilic vs Alexei Popyrin preview
Marin Cilic fought through a tight battle against Kwon Soon-woo at the Singapore Open on Friday, saving a match point before winning 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Cilic will now take on Alexei Popyrin in the semifinals on Saturday.
Popyrin ousted fellow Aussie Matthew Ebden in his quarterfinal match, prevailing 6-4, 7-6(7).
This is the first time since October 2019 (Moscow) that Marin Cilic has made the semis of an ATP event. After beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the opening round of the 2020 Paris Masters, Cilic had failed to register an outright win on tour until his second-round victory over Taro Daniel at Singapore.
The lanky Croat lost in the opening rounds of the Sofia Open, the Melbourne 2 event and the Australian Open, in what was a dismal hardcourt campaign for him.
However, Cilic has seemingly turned back the clock in Singapore, using his big serve and sledgehammer of a forehand to dominate the proceedings. The Croat has served a whopping 30 aces so far, and won 80% of his first serves points in each of his two matches.
That said, Alexei Popyrin has been serving pretty well himself. The youngster has racked up 33 aces in three matches, and more notably, has been broken just twice so far.
The Australian has defeated Christopher Eubanks, Adrian Andreev and Matthew Ebden to get to the semis, losing just one set in the process.
The fact that Ebden and Andreev combined could muster just three break-points against him will fill Popyrin with plenty of confidence against a returner of Cilic’s quality.
Marin Cilic vs Alexei Popyrin head-to-head
The head-to-head between Marin Cilic and Alexei Popyrin is currently 0-0 as the two have never faced each other on tour.
Marin Cilic vs Alexei Popyrin prediction
Marin Cilic is gunning for his first ATP final since 2018, while Alexei Popyrin is aiming to make his first ever. As such, a lot is at stake for both players, making this fixture a potentially nail-biting one.
At 6’5, Alexei Popyrin is a formidable server who can also hit flat and powerful groundstrokes on demand. But his height becomes a weakness when returning, as the Australian is not the quickest at retrieving shots that keep low.
Like Cilic, Popyrin also excels at striking deep forehands from the baseline. The youngster, however, isn’t very comfortable when invited to the net. Cilic on his part has a decent passing shot, and will look to make good use of that against the Australian.
That said, Alexei Popyrin is the fitter player of the two, and he can also sustain his firepower for longer. That makes this a tricky fixture for Marin Cilic, especially if it goes the distance.
Prediction: Alexei Popyrin to win in three sets.
