Top seed Milos Raonic takes on second seed Marin Cilic in the Men's singles final of 2017 Istanbul Open at Koza World of Sports Arena, Turkey on Sunday.
Raonic made light work of fifth seed Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-3 in his semi-final outing yesterday while Cilic was tested by Argentina's third seed Diego Sebastian Schwartzman, but the Croatian held his composure to take the match 6-1, 7-6 (7).
Raonic, who is playing his first tournament ever since he went into an injury layoff after his second round exit at Miami, has dropped only one set so far. The Canadian overcame a stiff fight against Bernard Tomic in the quarter-final, beating him 7-6, 7-6.
The 2014 French Open quarter-finalist had a has had a disappointing start to the new season, that has been marred by injuries but his run to the final in the ongoing tournament on his comeback run will provide him with a lot of confidence as he prepares for next week's all-important Madrid Open.
On the other hand, Cilic has reached the maiden final of the season here without dropping a set so far. Having faced a quarter-final exit at Monte Carlo Masters earlier this year, the world number eight has come up with all-round performances ahead of the big tests that await him in the coming weeks in Madrid and Paris.
Having shared honours on hard court in their two previous meetings, Cilic and Raonic are meeting on the red dirt for the first time. While both of them rely on their big-serving capability, there is very little that separates them on paper and the it will all boil down to who handles pressure better later today.
TV Channel
Singapore: Fox Sports 2
Malaysia: Fox Sports 2
US: Tennis Channel
Turkey: Sports TV
