MELBOURNE, Australia — Marin Cilic appeared hesitant as he stepped to the baseline to begin his Australian Open semifinal match on Thursday. Before hitting the first serve of the match, he bounced the ball more than two dozen times.
Cilic’s fidgeting presaged a poor start. He quickly fell behind after he finally put the ball into play, with his opponent, Kyle Edmund, winning three of the first four points to earn two immediate break opportunities.
But after the initial scare, the sixth-seeded Cilic found his groove. He hammered three consecutive service winners and never looked back, beating Edmund 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-2 in two hours 18 minutes.