Marin Cilic picked up from where he left off during the semifinals as he scored a dominating 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Kei Nishikori in the 2014 US Open Tennis men's final on Monday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Cilic, who defeated Roger Federer on his way to the final, leaned on his big serves to stop Nishikori on his tracks en route to the impressive win, which gave him the first Grand Slam title of his career.
The 14th-seeded Cilic defeated 26th-seeded Gilles Simon in the fourth round, sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals before scoring the huge upset win against Federer in the semifinals.
"I was dreaming about this all my life, and suddenly last four, five days everything started to change," Cilic said in an interview. "And with my tennis especially. I started to play absolutely unbelievable starting with the fifth set with Simon. After that I had unbelievable run of the matches against these top guys."
With the victory, Cilic became the first Croat to win a Grand Slam title since his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, ruled the 2001 Wimbledon, while also becoming the first 14th-seeded player to win a major title in the Open era.
"It means everything," Cilic said of winning the 2014 US Open. "It's just a huge accomplishment and huge moment for myself and for my team and for everybody around me who was with me all these years supporting me, believing in me and never giving up. So this is just the peak of the world."
The breakthrough win came a year after he was suspended for four-months for violation of the anti-doping policy. The 25-year-old said that it was the toughest part of his career, but it also gave him a lot of time to improve his game.
"It was a difficult period, but was also good period for me," Cilic said. "I matured a bit more, and I was working day after day. I wasn't, you know, relaxing and doing nothing. So I think that helped me to improve physically. Also, it helped me to have, you know, enough time to put some new parts in my game, which are helping me to play this well now."
Watch the highlights of Cilic's straight-set win against Nishikori on the official 2014 US Open website through this link.
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