Marin Cilic reaches first Australian Open final

Croatian Marin Cilic, ranked sixth in the world, reached his first Australian Open final on Thursday by defeating British Kyle Edmund (world No. 49) in three sets, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

The first Croatian in a final in Melbourne, Cilic will face the winner of the other semifinal between Swiss Roger Federer (No. 2) and South Korean Chung Hyeon (No. 58) on Friday.

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This will be the third Grand Slam final for the Croatian giant (6'6"), after his defeat last year (against Federer) at Wimbledon and his victory at the US Open in 2014. In New York, he had defeated the Swiss in the semifinals, which is his only victory against Federer in nine matches.

Cilic, 29, had no problems getting rid of one of the two surprise guests in the semifinals, along with Chung.

He played great tennis in the previous round against Rafael Nadal, who was forced to retire in the fifth set after an intense battle.

This time, he didn't need to be as good since the difference in level was significant (30 unforced errors by the British player).

The Croatian made the difference in some crucial points (4 breaks in 8 occasions) and was saved by his serve the rest of the time (11 aces, 90% of points won when his first serve went in).

The young 23-year-old British player, who had achieved the feat of eliminating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the third-ranked player in the world, in the quarterfinals, only had two break points in the first game of the match to create any danger afterwards, significantly lowering his intensity after losing the second set.