Former Champions Cilic, Dimitrov Reach Queen’s SFs

Two former champions advanced to the semifinal round at Queen’s on Friday. 2012 winner Marin Cilic cruised past Donald Young 6-4, 7-5 while 2014 champ Grigor Dimitrov had to fight off the big Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Cilic now faces the red-hot Gilles Muller who won his seventh straight match on the grass in beating American Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6(5).

“[He] is going to be the first guy that I’m going to meet, apart from Isner, serving and volleying, and obviously with his lefty serve he’s really dominant on his service games on grass,” Cilic said of Muller. “He is playing really well and last week he won a title. It’s definitely going to be tough match for me, but I’ve just got to focus on myself. I think it was good today that I played against Young, a lefty swinging serve.”

Added Muller, who lost his only meeting with Cilic last year in Rotterdam, “I lost in the quarterfinals the past two years, so I’m really happy that I was able to go one step further. I mean, now that you’re so close, you want to go all the way. Tomorrow is going to be a tough match, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Dimitrov takes his victim in the 2014 finals, Feliciano Lopez, who saved a matchpoint in a 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-5 win over Tomas Berdych.

“It was tough to accept the way the match was going because it was almost impossible to return. We were both serving great, so there was a lot of drama on the court today,” said Lopez who saved a matchpoint on his serve at 4-5 in the third. “It’s an amazing feeling when you win these matches and it’s extra confidence for tomorrow.”

Lopez just reached the Stuttgart final last week. But he’s 1-2 against the Bulgarian.

SATURDAY QUEEN’S SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT start 1:15pm
G. Muller (LUX) vs [4] M. Cilic (CRO)
[6] G. Dimitrov (BUL) vs F. Lopez (ESP)
[3] J. Murray (GBR) / B. Soares (BRA) vs M. Cilic (CRO) / M. Matkowski (POL)