It has been a long, arduous wait for Marin Cilic, but the big-serving Croat is finally back in a grand-slam semi-final four years after his last.
The world No 16 has long been known as a threat with a lot of destructive facets to his game, yet a player who consistently fails to challenge those at the top of the sport.
However, when the tall, imposing 25-year-old, who missed last year’s tournament at Flushing Meadows as he was serving a drugs ban, serves like he did here – he delivered 19 aces while winning 84 per cent of points on his first serve - there is little that an opponent can do.
Certainly Tomas Berdych, the No 6 seed from the Czech Republic, was unable to cope with his opponent’s firepower as he once again failed to deliver when it really mattered.
After wrapping up a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 victory, Cilic, coached by Goran Ivanisevic, the former Wimbledon champion, will now face Roger Federer on Saturday in what will be his first US Open semi-final.
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“It was truly an amazing day for me. I adjusted a bit better to the windy conditions. I was serving well through the wind and I am pretty happy with everything,“ Cilic said.
“We are both hitting big so it is about who is putting the most pressure on the serves. It feels amazing, especially through some difficult times in the last couple of years.”
He added of the prospects of working with Andy Murray’s former coach, Ivan Lendl: “It’s something which I was thinking about, definitely. I think [it] just needs probably the right time and timing to make it happen. Let’s see.”
The Croat was one set to the good after only 28 minutes, such was the ferocity and accuracy of his service games that left Berdych crestfallen. The 28-year-old had been broken only four times en route to the last eight, yet dropped serve straightaway thanks to two double-faults and went downhill from there.
Cilic eased one set ahead with an ace and in the second set, dropped a solitary point from the 17 first serves he landed to extend his lead.
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Berdych finally began to find his feet and quickly earned a break in the third. He was furious with the umpire though soon after for ruling a drop shot had bounced twice. “Have you ever held a racket? “ the Czech asked sarcastically.
The call was correct and even though he managed to take Cilic to a tie-break, the result was never in doubt. “I started terribly and that wasn’t the way to go. After that it was very tough to catch up,“ Berdych admitted.