Kyle Edmund vs Marin Cilic LIVE: British No 2 suffers defeat to end brilliant run at semi-finals
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Your support makes all the difference.Kyle Edmund will attempt to reach his first ever Grand Slam final – and become the new British No 1 in the process – when he meets Marin Cilic in Melbourne on Thursday morning with a place in the Australian Open final on the line.
The 23-year-old beat world No 3 Grigor Dimitrov to reach the last four Down Under, having already reached a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time in his career, and if Edmund can find a way to battle past Cilic and book his place in the final to face either Roger Federer or Hyeon Chung or Roger Federer, he will overtake Andy Murray in the world rankings.
But Cilic will be no walkover, having won the US Open in 2012 and reaching last year’s Wimbledon final, and the world No 6 has five years’ worth of experience more than Edmund that could prove crucial as the Briton ventures into unknown territory.
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Cilic* 6-2 4-4 Edmund
Edmund loses the first point on serve as he dumps the ball into the net from the baseline but a forehand winner followed by back-to-back unreturnable serves bring up a couple of game points... and he only needs one of them as he comes up with another service winner.
Cilic 6-2 5-4 *Edmund
Cilic starts the game with a double fault and follows that up with an unforced error off the ground to fall 0-30 behind.
However, he levels the scores as Edmund produces a couple of wayward groundstrokes.
Cilic brings up game point with an ace before another Edmund error from the baseline hands him the game.
Cilic* 6-2 5-5 Edmund
The pair exchange groundstroke errors to start the game before Edmund moves 30-15 ahead as Cilic nets a forehand.
However, a double fault follows from the Brit as Cilic moves to within two points of a two-set lead.
Edmund refuses to cave under pressure though as he produces back-to-back service winners to level the second set at 5-5.
Cilic 6-2 6-5 *Edmund
Cilic produces three service winners on the way to a comfortable hold to 15.
Cilic* 6-2 6-6 Edmund (*denotes next server in tie-break)
Edmund frames a forehand to lose the opening point of the game but three service winners in a row bring up two game points... but he can't take either of them as Cilic produces a couple of huge forehands to drag the game to deuce.
The Brit stands firm though and manages to hold courtesy of another unerturnable serve and an unforced forehand error from Cilic.
We're going to a tie-break!
Cilic 6-2 6-6 (3-3) *Edmund (*denotes next server in tie-break)
The first six points of the breaker all go with serve, with Edmund producing a wonderful backhand winner down the line to win one of the points.
Cilic 6-2 7-6(4) *Edmund
Cilic strikes first in the tie-break as Edmund nets a running forehand and the Croat wins both of the next two points on serve to move 6-3 ahead and brings up three set points.
Edmund saves the first as Cilic sends a backhand long but the Brit can do nothing to save the second as the No 6 seed crunches a backhand winner down the line.
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