Lexus Nottingham Open 2025: Marin Cilic seals fourth ATP Challenger title in Nottingham
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Marin Cilic has etched his name onto the trophy at the Lexus Nottingham Open after easing to a straight sets victory over Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki.
The former US Open champion needed just an hour and 11 minutes to overcome the world No.164 6-2, 6-3 and claim a fourth ATP Challenger crown of his career.
Speaking after his win, the Croatian spoke of what it means to take home the title in Nottingham and the confidence he can draw from the victory heading into the upcoming Grand Slam at Wimbledon.
“Beautiful match I have to say – really high quality. To play in a final like this, it’s definitely a huge accomplishment.
“Shintaro (Mochizuki) had a fantastic run during the whole week and also last week he played beautifully well on grass.
“For me, it means a lot for me to win this one. It gives me a lot of confidence, I’ve now played five matches in a row and can take this great confidence of winning into Wimbledon.”
Marin Cilic's path to the Lexus Nottingham Open title
- First round: Hugo Grenier (FRA) 6-3, 6-2
- Second round: Lloyd Harris (RSA) 2-6, 6-4, 3-1(RET)
- Quarter-final: Tomas Barrios Vera (CHL) 6-1, 6-3
- Semi-final: Martin Landaluce (ESP) 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-6(9)
- Final: Sho Shimabukuro (JPN) 6-2, 6-3
While he may have fallen short in today’s final, Mochizuki had already made history in becoming the first Japanese player, man or woman, to make the final in Nottingham.
The 22-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough couple of weeks on British soil – reaching the semi-finals at the Lexus Ilkley Open where he missed out on a spot in the final to Britain’s Jack Pinnington Jones and reaching a career-first final on grass in Nottingham.
Mochizuki will leave the tournament with his head held high and feeling confident in his game ahead of the remainder of the grass court swing.
“It’s been a great week,” he said after the match. “I came to England last week and I think I did a pretty good job for the last two weeks – making the semi-finals (in Ilkley) and the finals here in Nottingham. Everything is positive and I’m looking forward to Wimbledon.
“I’ve been playing very good tennis, and I just got to keep it going. Today, Marin played really well and he just didn’t let me play his game, some days are like that.
"I’ve just got to look up and be positive for the next one because I’m playing good and the next match is in two or three days, so I’ve got to look forward to it."
The 22-year-old from Japan entered the final having not dropped a set across any of his previous four matches, while Cilic had been taken to three sets in his clashes against Lloyd Harris and Martin Landaluce.
Both players made a steady start to the final, which was delayed due to rain in Nottingham.
Following back-to-back love holds, the match continued to go with serve until 2-3 in the opener where the Croatian dialed up the intesity, racing ahead to a break to love on Mochizuki's serve to edge ahead.
From then on out, the former world No.3 ran with the momentum, reeling off the last three games in a row to secure a one set lead in just 29 minutes.
Having dropped his first set of the tournament, the 22-year-old managed to quickly reset going into the second and was presented with his first break point opportunity at 3-3.
However, Cilic served well throughout the match and managed to find his first serves during the pressure moments. The 36-year-old won 85% of points behind his first serve (22/26) across the match, before going on to fend off the only break point he faced with an ace.
Despite both players having their chances in the latter stages of the second set, it was the 21-time ATP titleist who made the most of them, sealing the decisive break at 4-3 before securing his first ATP Challenger title on grass with a thunderous forehand to the baseline.
Over in the doubles final a battle between the second and third seeds saw the higher-ranked pair, Austin Krajicek and Santiago Gonzalez clinch their third trophy together.
The Brazilian, American pair took an hour and 30 minutes to defeat John-Patrick Smith and Fernando Romboli 7-6(7), 6-4.
Krajicek and Gonzalez - who just last week took home the Boss Open doubles title in Stuttgart - breezed through the first set tie-break before taking the first game of the second from their opponents.
That would be all it took for the pair to secure their eighth straight victory together and the Lexus Nottingham Open title.
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