PETE ZIEBRON
Marius Copil in action against Marin Cilic in Cincinnati. Peter Ziebron Images
Marius Copil defeated both Zverev brothers en route to the ATP Basel 500 Final, where he competed exceptionally well before falling to defending Champion Roger Federer 6-7(5) 4-6 last Sunday i n Switzerland. Copil advanced to world #60 from #93 as a result of his run to the final.
The Romanian won both qualifying matches in straight sets: 7-5 7-5 over Mischa Zverev and 6-3 6-4 over Dusan Lajovic to gain entry into the main draw.
In each of his main draw matches, Copil played a tiebreaker and won all of them until the semifinals. Round one saw Copil defeat American Ryan Harrison 6-2 7-6(8). Next up, the Romanian ousted world #6 Marin Cilic 7-5 7-6(2).
Marius Copil in Cincinnati at the Western & Southern Open. Peter Ziebron Images
Earlier this year, I saw Copil compete quite well against Cilic in the 2nd round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Copil won the opening set in a breaker before falling to the former Cincinnati Champion 7-6(4) 4-6 4-6. His victory over Cilic in Basel was actually the third time they played since August, as they would again meet in the opening round of the US Open, with Cilic winning 7-5 6-1 1-1 (RET).
Following the win in Basel over Cilic, Copil faced upstart American Taylor Fritz and won 7-6(6) 7-5 to advance to the semifinals to face world #5 Alexander Zverev. Despite finally dropping a breaker in Switzerland, Copil won the match 6-3 6-7(4) 6-4 to reach the final and face Federer.
The Swiss was a bit too good for Copil on Sunday as he won his 99th career title 7-6(5) 6-4.
Throughout the main draw matches, Copil hit 89 aces with just 14 double faults, including a 21 ace, zero double fault performance against Cilic.