Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic win to set up semifinal clash at U.S. Open

Marin Cilic won the U.S. Open tennis tournament’s men’s singles title last year and then everybody pretty much forgot about him.

He didn’t play much after that, nursing a shoulder injury, not even playing in 2015 until Indian Wells in March. And there were always the more rich and famous to write and talk about, the Roger Federers and Novak Djokovics.

But Tuesday brought the determination of the first semifinal spot, and there was Cilic, the hard-serving Croatian, penciled in.

“I came to this tournament, knowing that I can play well here,” Cilic said, “that I just need a few matches to get into the rhythm, and that’s what happened.”

Getting to this semifinal hasn’t been easy.

Tuesday’s match, at Arthur Ashe Stadium, took one minute shy of four hours and didn’t end until Cilic finally converted on his fifth match point. He beat determined and talented Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4.

“Very demanding,” Cilic said. “Very, very hot, and of course, a lot on the line for the match. Obviously, with emotions, [it] was mentally very exhausting.”

Cilic, 27, deprived the 30-year-old Tsonga of a second spot in a Grand Slam final. He has been to semifinals of all the majors except the U.S. Open, and made it to the 2008 Australian final, where he lost to Djokovic, the man he would have played had he beaten Cilic.

Djokovic played his way into the bracket opposite Cilic with a late-night victory over Spain’s 33-year-old Feliciano Lopez. No. 1 Djokovic won, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

Cilic’s victory was the second five-setter he has played here. He needed more than four hours to get past Mikhail Kukushin in the third round, but his 6-1 final set in that one was much less stressful than his closing battle with Tsonga.

Cilic had three match points in the fourth set, and then, when he failed on those, played a sloppy tiebreaker that he lost when Tsonga put an exclamation point on the proceedings with a 129-mph ace.

Cilic got himself in good position again, breaking Tsonga’s serve at 2-2 of the final set, and allowing himself to serve for the match at 5-4.

Cilic had 29 aces in the match and hit one at 135 to reach match point. But then he double-faulted back to deuce. Tsonga got it to break point, Cilic saved that with a closing volley, then got another match point, No. 5, with a forehand winner.

Finally, Tsonga blinked, hitting wide, and a relieved Cilic stood with arms extended wide, a big smile toward his team box, which included his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, a former Wimbledon champion.

Tsonga, still a showman after 10 years on tour, got the crowd excited with his comeback. He is a mercurial talent, often trying shots he shouldn’t try and making them more often than he should.

That made the match a good contrast, because Cilic’s game is more metronomic than mercurial.

He has the big serve, the big forehand and the big heart to stay out there all day if he has to, and he changes little in any of this, match to match.

In the end, as is often the case, steadiness trumped flash.

Now, Cilic awaits another shot at Djokovic, with a memory of the two-sets-to-one lead he had on the Serb at Wimbledon in 2014. They played again there this year, but it was much quicker: Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

They have played 13 times and Djokovic has won each time. To get to last year’s final, Cilic beat Federer in the semifinals and Kei Nishikori beat Djokovic.

In the daytime women’s quarterfinal, Roberta Vinci of Italy advanced to a semifinal against Serena Williams by beating Kristina Mladenovic of France, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Mladenovic lost despite hitting 51 winners. She also had 64 unforced errors.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com

Twitter: @DwyreLATimes