Red Hot Cilic Pepper

NEW YORK—Marin Cilic, seeded No. 14 at this U.S. Open, fired the second resounding salvo of this extraordinary semifinals day barely two hours after No. 10 seed Kei Nishikori eliminated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Showing a newfound poise but the same old howitzer serve, Cilic eliminated No. 2 seed Roger Federer to win a place opposite Nishikori in Monday night’s final.

Over the past few years, this lanky, 6’6” Croatian was saddled with a reputation for “over-thinking” the game. But today, Cilic didn’t need to do much thinking at all. He put on a formidable serving demonstration backed by precise groundstrokes. The final game of his one-hour and 45-minute, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 masterpiece was an apt symbol of the kind of day he enjoyed.

With the pro-Federer crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium palpably longing for their hero to break back to stay in the match at 4-5, Cilic stepped up to the line and fired a 129 M.P.H. ace. Then he took a little bit off as he went down the middle for another ace, this one just six M.P.H. slower. Next, in the deuce court, he applied a little spin but still managed to fire a 117 M.P.H. serve out wide—another ace.

At match point, Federer finally got stick on the serve, but Cilic calmly stepped in and swung his racquet, two-handed from the backhand side, like an Olympian throwing the hammer, and drilled a clean winner down the line.

Game, set, changing of the guard?

Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Federer and Djokovic and company have shown themselves plenty resilient over the years that the Big Four (those two, plus Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray) have dominated the Grand Slam and Masters 1000 events. They've all had their stumbles, but Monday will mark the first time since the 2005 Australian Open that none of them will present in the final round.

Furthermore, only one member of that fraternity is over the age of 30—Federer, at 33. And would anyone doubt that, had Nadal been fit to play and defend his title, the entire chessboard might have looked very different at this point of the tournament? A draw is like a mill pond; any pebble thrown into it causes concentric ripples.

Roger Federer was the great beneficiary of Nadal’s absence these past two weeks. Among other things, it promoted him to the No. 2 seed, in the bottom half of a draw that contained but one former Grand Slam champion, Lleyton Hewitt. Thus, it was only fitting that Federer had the most reason to curse his fate when he lost this outstanding opportunity to win an 18th major title. But cursing was not in order—not the way his bearded, introspective opponent let his racquet do the talking that he eschews.

“I feel amazing,” Cilic mumbled immediately after the match. “To be able to play like this—I never dreamed of it. I’m just going to enjoy, I’m just going to be happy.”

“Credit to him,” Federer said afterward. “He served big; he served close to the lines. When he does that, there's only so much you can really do. But I think he was also playing really well from the baseline, so let's not only talk about just his serving. From the baseline I think he was hitting the ball very well.”

Moreover, Cilic was able to contain Federer. The Croat put 56 percent of his first serves into play; that’s not an exceptional number. But he won 87 percent of those points and 56 percent of his second-serve points. Cilic made six more unforced errors than Federer (23-17), but while Federer smacked a respectable 28 winners, Cilic kicked them out like a Pez dispenser, hitting 43.

“I felt that today I was hitting the ball extremely clean. I mean, I have some days where I am shanking a lot of balls, but today it was very pure from my end of the court. It was just, when I'm playing aggressively, it's difficult for guys to open up the court, to find some angles.”

Cilic earned the right to be happy, and not just because playing your best tennis at the most important time—playing the match you fantasized about as a child as you lay in bed with the racquet tucked under your pillow—is a dream come true for any pro. He’s also had one of the more tortuous career paths in the ATP, a trail full of blind hills and switchbacks.

At 25, Cilic is still young, but it’s been over four years since he hit his career-high ranking of No. 9. He made a Grand Slam semifinal at the start of 2010, at the Australian Open, but hadn’t been back to one since. At times over the years, his game was all over the place, and he didn’t appear to know if he wanted to be a guy with a big serve who relied on his baseline game, or a baseliner who relied on that serve to make his life easier.

Cilic has also dealt with injuries (most recently a nagging left knee problem in 2012 and 2013), and he never had the confidence to regularly challenge Top 10 players; he went 6-21 against them from 2010 to 2012. And then, last year, Cilic was suspended for four months shortly after Wimbledon ended for a doping violation. He played just one more tournament the rest of the year.

Cilic protested his innocence, so perhaps there was some poetic justice in the fact that he feels he has matured considerably and also became a stronger, better player during that time off. It was a delicate question to raise on this occasion, but Federer was asked if he had conflicting feelings playing against someone so recently suspended.

“I'm fine with it,” Federer replied. “I truly believed he didn't do anything wrong in the sense that he did it on purpose. Was he stupid? Maybe. But I feel like I know him well enough, and I don't think he would ever do it. I feel more bad for him than anything else.”

Federer also suggested that Cilic was well on the way to becoming the player he was today long before his suspension. Just what kind of player was that, some of us wondered?

“He was quite erratic before, especially from the baseline,” Federer said. “I think in some ways his game has little margin because he takes the ball early. If he doesn't feel well on the half volleys it's tough for him. I feel like he's cleaned up his return game to some degree. I think he's serving much more consistent throughout an entire match and entire tournament; whereas before he could have a good day, bad day, good set, bad set.”

Cilic agreed with Federer’s assessment in principle, and added: “I feel in general I'm hitting the serve bigger, the shots are more compact, and I'm moving, I would say, very comfortably on the court. I'm able to run down some balls that I wasn't before.”

There remains one more hurdle for Cilic, and it is apt to be the most nerve-wracking of them all. For Nishikori also will be playing his first major final, and emotional stability and poise will probably feature large in Monday night’s result.

“I can say this moment is extremely huge achievement,” Cilic mused. “For the guys that are on top it feels normal, but for some guys that are making for the first time it’s the achievement of the career.”

Cilic was getting a bit ahead of himself with that, for there’s still greater achievement, and more to be happy about, on offer. Let’s see what Monday brings.