KOOYONG, November 15, 2017 (Press Release)
Four players bound for the 2018 Priceline Pharmacy Kooyong Classic are featuring in the end-of-season ATP Tour Finals in London.
World No. 8 David Goffin from Belgium, Croatian world No. 4 Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem of Austria were already in the tournament and will now be joined by Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
Following the two-time reigning Kooyong champion Goffin’s victory over Rafael Nadal in the English capital on the opening day of the season ending tournament, the world No. 1 withdrew meaning first alternate Carreno Busta is now in the draw.
The quartet will contest the finals showdown before venturing to Melbourne after their end of season break to play at the 30th anniversary of the Kooyong Classic from January 9 – 12, the traditional pre-Australian Open event.
Three of the quartet are in action on Wednesday including Goffin, Carreno Busta and world No. 5 Thiem.
Goffin will play world No. 6 from Bulgaria Grigor Dimitrov in his second match of the tournament before Thiem and Carreno Busta face off in the evening session at The O2 in London.
Overnight, world No. 4 Marin Cilic was defeated by USA’s Jack Sock.
The big Croatian, who made the Wimbledon final against Roger Federer this season, succumbed to Sock in three sets 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4) giving the US its first singles win at the tournament in 10 years.
“Definitely disappointing in that third set, being in a good position, putting myself in a good position. But unfortunately, I didn’t close it,” Cilic said.
“What makes the difference I think with these top guys, if you don’t take the chances, it’s one point here and there.
“[I’m] just going to try to be a little bit more stubborn in my preparations maybe for the next match, and hopefully next year. Hopefully I’m going to perform better.”
In his first finals match Goffin completed his fifth win against a top 10 opponent this year, defeating Nadal in three sets after seeing four match points in the second set wiped away by the Spaniard.
“It’s the best win of my career, for sure, to beat Rafa,” Goffin said after his match.
“But, yeah, I saw that he was struggling a little bit with his movement on the court, and his knee was suffering a little bit.
“It was tough even if he was not moving 100 per cent. He was hitting the ball really hard. It was not easy.
“It’s never easy to finish a match, to finish a set against him. Even if I lost four match points in the second, I had no regret. I kept going in the third.”
