The rain-filled skies of Paris pushed 11 Monday matches to Tuesday at Roland Garros, but not before Marin Cilic produced one of the best performances of the day.<\/p>\n
Cilic, the #20 overall seed, dispatched Attila Balazs 6-0 6-1 6-2 in just 1 hour and 29 minutes. Powered by his forehand, the Croatian used a fantastic variety of shots to total 32 winners. He was hitting a very clean ball and did not seem to be bothered by the slow, damp courts.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old Croatian pounded 11 aces, winning 43-of-57 points on his serve.\u00a0If Cilic can play his serve and first ball as well as he did Monday, he will be a tough out here in Paris.<\/p>\n
Cilic holds a career-winning percentage of 61.1% on the clay and is 5-4 on the surface here in 2022.<\/p>\n
He made the quarterfinals at Roland Garros<\/a> back in 2017 and 2018. A favorable draw paired with his in-form play could set up Marin Cilic for another deep run in Paris.<\/p>\n Cilic is set to face world No. 57 Marton Fucsovics in Round 2. He leads the head-to-head over the Hungarian 2-0. Should he work his way past Fucsovics, this quarter of the draw is as favorable as you could ask for.<\/p>\n #16 seed Pablo Carreno Busta is the potential Round of 32 matchup for Cilic. He leads their head-to-head 4-1. A date with #2 seed Daniil Medvedev is in the possible cards for the Round of 16. Medvedev’s issue with this surface has been well-documented which makes him very susceptible to an upset.<\/p>\n Former world No. 3 Marin Cilic is proving to once again be a real contender<\/a> on the ATP Tour. Do not be surprised if he is making noise in Paris during week two.<\/p>\n Main Photo:What’s Next?<\/h3>\n
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>