Wimbledon: Fourth seed Draper falls to Cilic

No 4 seed Jack Draper is the latest top player to fall at Wimbledon, losing 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 to Croat Marin Cilic at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Thursday evening.

“To come back and play at this kind of level in front of this crowd and against Jack is just incredible,” Cilic said afterwards, referring to repeated knee surgery and his absence from Wimbledon since 2021. “Emotions are just incredible, from where I was two years ago, it’s been a long journey. I never lost any doubt. I’ve been really dedicated to training.”

Cilic was strong behind his powerful first serve, winning 78 per cent of first-serve points and firing down 16 aces. The Croat was also impressive on return, breaking Draper on three occasions – once in each set he won – and winning 37 per cent of receiving points.

Overall, Cilic out-hit Draper with 53 winners to the Brit’s 29, while making a modest 34 unforced errors to Draper’s 22.

“I think I executed extremely well,” he said. “I have to say that I improved a lot. Obviously it’s a huge result, but I’m feeling quite confident in the game, that the level is there. I feel like maybe I can add couple details in the game to even be better.”

Age no obstacle

At the age of 36 years and 275 days, Cilic is now the third-oldest player since rankings were first published in 1973 to defeat an ATP top five opponent at Wimbledon after Ken Rosewall and Roger Federer.

Of the men that have advanced to the third round in SW19 this year, several are of Cilic’s generation, with Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov gaining wins on Thursday as well.

“We’ve been so used to, in those, let’s say, 10 years ago where the average was 30-plus in the top hundred. Now the new generation came. Lots of players that are born in the ’90s, beginning of the 2000s. 

“It’s great to see them playing, continuing to play well, and use this experience to play great in Grand Slams. Quite a lot of these guys have been really diligent throughout their career to take care of their body, to be very professional. Also, it gives you opportunity to play at this level at that age, as well.”

Cilic, ranked No 83, will face Spaniard Jaume Munar next.

The 36-year-old Croat defeated Belgian Raphael Collignon (6-3, 6-4, 6-3) ahead of his victory.

In the previous round of The Championships, Draper, ranked No 4, benefited from the abandonment of Argentinian Sebastian Baez (6-2, 6-2, 2-1).

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London (Grand Slam), other second-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 53.500.000, most recent results first):

• Ben Shelton vs. Rinky Hijikata: thursday
• Jannik Sinner vs. Aleksandar Vukic: thursday
• Marton Fucsovics vs. Gael Monfils: thursday
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili: thursday
• Sebastian Ofner beat Tommy Paul (13): 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 7-5
• Brandon Nakashima (29) beat Reilly Opelka: 7-5, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Mariano Navone: 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Luciano Darderi beat Arthur Fery (WC): 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
• August Holmgren (Q) beat Tomas Machac (21): 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5)
• Novak Djokovic (6) beat Daniel Evans (WC): 6-3, 6-2, 6-0
• Jan-Lennard Struff beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (25): 3-6, 7-6 (9), 6-3, 6-4
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Cristian Garin (LL): 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3
• Jaume Munar beat Fabian Marozsan: 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (9)
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (26) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Grigor Dimitrov (19) beat Corentin Moutet: 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
• Alex De Minaur (11) beat Arthur Cazaux (Q): 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0
• Jakub Mensik (15) beat Marcos Giron: 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Jesper De Jong: 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
• Flavio Cobolli (22) beat Jack Pinnington Jones (WC): 6-1, 7-6 (6), 6-2
• Taylor Fritz (5) beat Gabriel Diallo: 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
• Kamil Majchrzak beat Ethan Quinn: 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
• Mattia Bellucci beat Jiri Lehecka (23): 7-6 (4), 6-1, 7-5
• Jordan Thompson beat Benjamin Bonzi: 7-5, 6-7 (2), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Oliver Tarvet (Q): 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
• Nuno Borges beat Billy Harris: 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7)
• Andrey Rublev (14) beat Lloyd Harris: 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Karen Khachanov (17) beat Shintaro Mochizuki (Q): 1-6, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Adrian Mannarino (Q) beat Valentin Royer (Q): 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (1)
• Nicolas Jarry (Q) beat Learner Tien: 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
• Cameron Norrie beat Frances Tiafoe (12): 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
• Joao Fonseca beat Jenson Brooksby: 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4