Croatia's Marin Cilic won his first Grand Slam title with a straight set win over Japanese tennis ace Kei Nishikori at the US Open final.
The 14th seed dominated throughout on a cool, breezy day in New York, hitting 17 aces and dropping serve just once in one hour and 54 minutes to win 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and become the first Croat to win one of the four tennis major since his coach Goran Ivanisevic won the Wimbledon title in 2001.
Cilic's victory completes a Grand Slam year that has seen eight different winners of the singles titles across the men's and women's games, for the first time since 1998, The BBC reported.
Cilic, who missed last year's US Open as he served a ban for taking a prohibited stimulant, said that he does not know how he did it, adding that it was hard work over the last few years and especially this last year.
The Croat said that his team has brought something to him, especially Ivanisevic, and added that they are all working really hard but the most important thing is that his coach brought to him was enjoying tennis, and always having fun.
Cilic said that he thinks he played the best tennis of his life.
Meanwhile, Nishikori said that Cilic was playing really well, adding that he couldn't play his tennis. He said that it is a really tough loss but he is really happy for first coming to the final.
