Tennis-Cilic downs Russian second seed Medvedev to set up Rublev clash

By Sudipto Ganguly

PARIS (Reuters) -Croatian Marin Cilic did not put a foot wrong as he crushed Russia's world number two Daniil Medvedev 6-2 6-3 6-2 in a lopsided contest on Monday to return to the French Open quarter-finals after a gap of four years.

The 2014 U.S. Open champion, seeded 20th, dominated proceedings from the start and finished off the contest in an hour and 45 minutes to reach the last eight stage on the Parisian clay for the third time in his career.

Medvedev came into the match having won all three previous meetings against the 33-year-old Croatian but cut a sorry figure under the lights on Court Philippe Chatrier in their first contest on clay.

"It was absolutely a fantastic match from the first point to the last," Cilic said in his interview on court.

"I enjoyed the atmosphere, enjoyed the night session here, played incredible tennis, one of the best matches of my career from start to finish."

Such was the Croatian's domination that he did not face a break point and will next meet another Russian in seventh seed Andrey Rublev for a place in the semi-finals.

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Cilic played aggressively, pinning Medvedev behind the baseline and advancing to the net at every opportunity as the Russian failed to find any zing behind his flat groundstrokes in the cooler night conditions.

Unable to find a solution to Cilic's pinpoint winners, Medvedev kept shaking his head and also poured out his frustration at the chair umpire over what he felt was very little time to rest during changeovers.

Medvedev's form on the night was more reminiscent of his four consecutive first-round exits at Roland Garros before he made the quarter-finals last year.

Cilic