SAINT PETERSBURG (AFP) – Former US Open champion Marin Cilic defeated American Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4 on Sunday (Oct 31) to win the St Petersburg trophy and claim a 20th career title.
Cilic is just the sixth active player to pass the 20-trophy landmark, joining Roger Federer (103), Rafael Nadal (88), Novak Djokovic (85), Andy Murray (46) and Juan Martin del Potro (22).
Cilic, a former world number three, now ranked at 35, has collected four of his titles in Russia – the 2011 and 2021 crowns in St. Petersburg and back-to-back wins in Moscow in 2014-2015.
He was agonisingly close to a third in the Russian capital last weekend where he was runner-up to Aslan Karatsev.