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Marin Cilic OUSTED, Roger Federer remains heavy favorite

By Harry Floyd

INDIAN WELLS, CA - MARCH 11: Marin Cilic of Croatia returns a backhand to Marton Fucsovics of Hungary during the BNP Paribas Open on March 11, 2018 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA - MARCH 11: Marin Cilic of Croatia returns a backhand to Marton Fucsovics of Hungary during the BNP Paribas Open on March 11, 2018 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /
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Marin Cilic is out of the Indian Wells Masters. The Croatian tennis star was the second seed at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

Marin Cilic is the current world No. 3 on the ATP World Tour. With Rafael Nadal out of the mix at the 2018 Indian Wells Masters, he came into action as the second seed at the Masters 1000 tournament. Roger Federer, the current world No. 1, is the top seed at the event.

After winning his opener, Cilic drops his round of 32 meeting to veteran tennis star Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German veteran is the No. 31 seed at Indian Wells.

It’s a rough outing for the world No. 3 at the tournament this week. While he appeared in fine form during his opening round match, Cilic went down in straight sets during the round of 32 action. Kohlschreiber takes the meeting between them with ease, cruising to a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Croatian tennis star.

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Marin Cilic needs to bounce back after his loss at Indian Wells.

With Cilic out of the way, Federer remains the player to beat this week. The Swiss superstar is cruising through his time at Indian Wells so far. Winning his two matches thus far, Federer is yet to drop a set. He takes on veteran Jérémy Chardy of France next on Wednesday. The round of 16 meeting puts Federer one step closer to defending his title. Federer is a five-time champion at the Indian Wells Masters. He is without a doubt the top contender despite several seeded stars still alive. Among those still in action are American Jack Sock, Juan Martin del Potro, and Canadian great Milos Raonic. Action rolls on at the ATP World Tour tournament.

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Look for Marin Cilic to rebound quickly after his loss at Indian Wells. He is off to a stellar start on the 2018 tour after his runner-up finish at the Australian Open. While this is a minor setback, it should not throw the world No. 3 off too much. He will need to maintain consistency moving forward though if he hopes to stay ahead of several rising stars in men’s singles tennis. Check back to see how the Croatian great and others fare in the coming weeks.

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