Defending champion Marin Cilic escaped a scare on Friday to reach the fourth round of the US Open, outlasting 56th-ranked Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1
Croatia's Marin Cilic is ecstatic after his win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan on Friday
New York: Defending champion Marin Cilic escaped a scare on Friday to reach the fourth round of the US Open, outlasting 56th-ranked Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1.
Croatia's Marin Cilic is ecstatic after his win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan on Friday. Pic/AFP
The Croatian ninth seed was threatened with the earliest exit by a defending champion since Andre Agassi lost to Arnaud Clement in the 1999 second round.
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Instead, he fought back after losing the first set and having to save two set points in the 12th game of the second set.
Kukushkin had not reached a third round for 16 events until this week, but he snapped Cilic's US Open run of 16 straight sets and won five of the last six points in the fourth-set tie-breaker to push the champion to the limit.
"It wasn't easy but I stayed together and got it done," Cilic said.
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