Marin Cilic is being inspired by warm memories of Australian Opens past as he shapes up as an unexpected threat at Melbourne Park.
The 33-year-old Croat, who many felt may have seen his best days after a couple of lean seasons, is again conjuring up distant visions of his unstoppable run to the 2014 US Open title after blitzing fifth seed Andrey Rublev in Saturday's third round.
When the big-serving Cilic gets into a rhythm he can be extremely dangerous, as his run to the final of Wimbledon in 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018 demonstrated.
On both occasions, only Roger Federer could halt him.
"Doesn't matter in the end who I play. If I'm playing the best I can it's a great opportunity for me to beat almost everybody on the tour," Cilic said after his 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-3 defeat of Rublev.
"When my game is there, I feel really confident -- I feel that my game is actually there. I'm playing really good."
Stretching back to 2007, Cilic's record in Melbourne demanded respect.
In addition to his 2018 appearance in the decider, he's been a semi-finalist and has now reached the last-16 on six other occasions.
"I have great experience in the grand slam level here in Australia," Cilic said.
"I played amazing in 2018 and was just a bit unlucky in 2019 when I felt even in better shape and was a bit unlucky with my knee injury, couldn't perform at my best.
"When I'm playing well I can challenge these guys."
Cilic reached the semi-finals of both warm-up Adelaide International events, building on his end-of-season flourish in 2021 when he won the St Petersburg Open and reached the finals of the Kremlin Cup and Davis Cup.
"Started somewhere in the summer last year, had some good matches, good wins," the Open 27th seed, who loved the noisy support he received from Croatian fans in the Margaret Court Arena, said.
"I'm that kind of player where I need to build my form gradually."
Cilic will face ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime for a place in the quarter-finals, the Canadian young gun dispatching Britain's Dan Evans 6-4 6-1 6-1 in an ominous performance.
"We know each other. We played a few times and he's a big hitter, big serve, big forehand," Cilic, who hold a 3-0 head-to-head record over Auger-Aliassime, said.
Australian Associated Press
