For the past two years, Cilic has reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club. He’ll look to make it three in a row today when he meets Nishikori in the fourth round. Cilic edged Lukas Lacko in the third round, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, to set up a date with Nishikori.
Cilic is on fire right now, particularly his service game. That was apparent when he won 43 of 44 first-serve points against Lacko. Prior to that, he won 57 of 65 first-serve points in his second-round win over Sergiy Stakhovsky. With Cilic playing so well and his confidence undeniably on a high, he’ll be a very dangerous opponent for Nishikori.
Nishikori easily dispatched of Andrey Kuznetsov in the third round, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5, to book just his second-career fourth-round seat at Wimbledon. Like Cilic, Nishikori breezed past his third-round opponent, winning 46 of his 64 first serve points with 23 winners. He also managed to cut down on his miscues, notching just 14 unforced errors against Kuznetsov after getting 23 and 22 in his first two matches, respectively.
Nishikori has defeated Cilic seven times in 10 meetings before, including the last in Tokyo (2015), where he earned a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 quarterfinals victory over the Croatian.
