Preview: Wimbledon: Jack Draper vs. Marin Cilic - prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far

Jack Draper’s ambition to finally reach the third round at Wimbledon puts him against a former finalist, Marin Cilic, in Thursday’s second-round match.

The British No. 1, already two sets up when Sebastian Baez retired injured, will face a stiffer challenge against the seasoned Croatian player, who recently won a Challenger event in Nottingham before the Championships.

Match preview

On a day when several seeds fell in the women’s and men’s draws, Draper could not underestimate his Argentine opponent before stepping onto No. 1 Court.

From all indications, the Briton was no-nonsense in sets one and two, even though the 23-year-old played against a physically compromised Baez, whom he led 6-2, 6-2, 2-1 before the latter withdrew due to injury.

The fourth seed thus avoided the fate that befell third seed Alexander Zverev, seventh seed Lorenzo Musetti, eighth seed Holger Rune and ninth seed Daniil Medvedev in progressing to the second round at his home Slam for the third time.

Having exited in round one against Novak Djokovic on his debut in 2021, Draper's second-round defeats to Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie in 2022 and 2024 have kept him from making it past the second round at this event.

Entering this year's tournament at SW19 as the No. 4 seed, the British star was favoured to finally beat his second-round curse at the All England Club and go deep on home turf, even though he stopped short of admitting that ambition on Tuesday.

While the British No. 1, 29-8 for the season, is the clear favourite to make it to the third round, he risks being upset by an opponent who knows these courts well if his level drops.

Cilic, a quarter-finalist in 2014, 2015 and 2016, reached the final in 2017 before losing to a motivated Roger Federer, who did not drop a set en route to his eighth title.

However, the Croatian star has not been quite the same since that final eight years ago, only making it to the second round in 2018 and 2019 before exiting in the third round in 2021.

Tuesday's 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Raphael Collignon in one hour and 48 minutes continued his streak of not losing in the first round since 2011, when he was beaten by Ivan Ljubicic, and the 21-time ATP champion aims to reach another third round for the first time since 2021.

Despite a tour-level record of 2-4 this season, the former Grand Slam winner has mostly been playing on the Challenger Circuit, bringing his record to 20-10 before facing the No. 4 seed on Thursday.

With his win at Nottingham, Cilic is riding a six-match winning streak heading into his match with Draper, and the veteran is looking to extend that run to seven and thwart the home favourite’s prospects of a maiden third round at SW19.

Tournament so far

Jack Draper:

First round: vs. Sebastian Baez 6-2 6-2 2-1 ret.

Marin Cilic:

First round: vs. Raphael Collignon 6-3 6-4 6-3

Head To Head

Draper and Cilic face off for the first time on the ATP Tour, with the victor taking a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head.

The British No. 1 has managed 10 wins over players ranked No. 80 or lower in the past 52 weeks and aims to improve his 144-52 overall record against such opponents.

For Cilic, since beating Rafael Nadal at the 2018 Australian Open, his only victory over a top-five player was in the fourth round at Roland Garros against Daniil Medvedev three years ago, highlighting his struggles against the highest-ranked players.

We say: Draper to win in four sets

The big-serving Cilic's ability to win cheap points on his serve might allow him to take a set against the British star.

Nevertheless, Draper is likely to dominate the match and advance to the third round at Wimbledon for the first time.

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