The Pick, Barcelona, April 22: Cilic vs Burgos, is Marin ready to play well again?

Marin still has potential, but will he show it in '12?

The US Open champion is trying to play well again.

Marin Cilic vs Victor Estrella Burgos, Barcelona, April 22

It is pretty incredible that Burgos is now 34 years old and he is still out there, currently ranked No. 52, which is pretty darn good considering that the Dominican Republic has very few players who have even made it on the ATP World Tour. Baseball, anyone? Regardless, Burgos has hung in there at the singles. He is fast, but small at 5-foot-8 and isn’t powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with lots of players. But on clay, that’s an entire matter all together. He won Ecuador in February, upsetting Feliciano Lopez in the final. He then won a Challenger in Morelos, Mexico.

Last week in Monte Carlo, he bested Simon Bolelli in the first round and then he retired against David Ferrer. So while he was been playing well, and he thinks he has a real chance against Cilic, who might be a little hurt. If he isn’t running up and down everywhere than he will have no chance.

Is the US Open champion Cilic is ready to go now? It’s hard to say. He did return at Miami and he lost in the first round. But last week, he won two contests over Mayer and Tsonga, which was terrific, but then he was blasted by Djokovic.

It will take the tall man a while to be completely ready. He has never loved clay, but when his forehands are blasting two and fro and he attacks on his foes’ second serve then he can be threatening. At the 2014 US Open, he could do anything he wanted to. But now he has to have tremendous patience. Let’s assume that the huge server Cilic will believe in himself again and win it over Burgos in third set.

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