Marin Cilic survived a scare to beat Ricardas Berankis and book his place in the third round at Wimbledon following a gruelling five-set marathon this afternoon.
On the hottest day of Wimbledon history, with temperatures reaching 35.7 degrees Celsius, the ninth seed edged out the Lithuanian 6-3 4-6 7-6(6) 4-6 7-5 in an encounter that lasted just over three-and-a-half hours.
The Croatian started well and a break of serve in the fourth game allowed him to move 3-1 up, before ultimately going on to win the first set with relative ease.
Despite the disparity in the players' rankings, however, the world number 90 refused to stick to the script. Nothing could separate the duo in the second set, but a crucial break by Berankis in the 10th game was enough to see him level up the match.
The third set was nip and tuck once more, with neither player recording a single break of serve in regulation as the pair won six games apiece to force a tie-break.
Even that struggled to throw up a clear winner, as Raonic ultimately edged it 8-6 in points to establish a 2-1 lead in the match. However, Berankis again defied his ranking by levelling up with another spirited display in the fourth set to push the former quarter-finalist all the way.
Once again, both players held their respective serve for much of the deciding set as the duo sat deadlocked on five games apiece, with Cilic winning the 11th to move one game away from a hard-fought third-round spot. Something finally gave when Cilic forced a maiden break of serve in the set to finally seal his place in the next stage.
