US Open Tennis 2014 Men's Final: Biggest Keys in Kei Nishikori vs. Marin Cilic

While the 2014 U.S. Open men's final is not what people expected, Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic are certain to create an exciting battle in New York City.

Nishikori is in the midst of an incredible run, upsetting Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic to put him one step away from a Grand Slam title. Not to be outdone, Cilic has defeated Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer in straight sets.

Anyone who is questioning the merits of the two finalists should give plenty of credit to the duo who knocked off five of the top six seeds in the tournament. Still, this represents quite a difference from the past decade, as ESPN's Max Bretos notes:

The question is which of these underdogs can come through to win a championship. The eventual winner will likely be the one who does a better job following these keys to victory.

Kei Nishikori

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

Attack Opposing Second Serve

Cilic has been dominant with his first serve throughout the tournament, but there has been a significant drop-off heading into his second serve. This is where Nishikori has to take advantage.

Juan Jose Vallejo of The Changeover explained Cilic's tricks from past rounds are not going to work this time around:

For the tournament, Cilic has won 83 percent of his first serves but only 53 percent on second. This is actually better than the player's yearly total of 51 percent points won on the second serve.

On the other hand, Nishikori ranks seventh in the world with a 54 percent success rate against the opponent's second serve.

Cilic will not give you too many opportunities to beat him when he has the service. However, the one chance Nishikori will have to force breaks will be to really take advantage after an opening miss.

Keep Intensity Throughout Match

Things could get difficult for Nishikori if this match goes to five sets. While he defeated Djokovic in four sets, the two matches beforehand both went five. While he is young, it is tough for anyone to succeed in so many sets.

On the other hand, Cilic has only needed three sets in the last two matches and appears to be in as good of shape as he has in a long time. He recently discussed his ability to succeed late into battles, via Courtney Nguyen of Sports Illustrated:

"

I feel in general I'm hitting the serve bigger, the shots are more compact, and I'm moving, I would say, very comfortably on the court. I'm able to run down some balls that I wasn't before. And even when I'm playing these long, long matches like the one with Simon, I'm able to recover quicker. I worked physically a lot. And also with Goran the intensity on the tennis court is pretty high. So I feel everything with that adds up to being better in all aspects.

"

Nishikori has to find a way to match the energy of his opponent and remain competitive for as long as it takes.

Considering the 24-year-old player is 12-2 in the fifth set in his career, this hopefully will not be a problem in the finals.

Marin Cilic

Al Bello/Getty Images

Get First Serve in Play

Cilic's serve was almost unstoppable in his semifinal match against Federer. He totaled 13 aces to only one double fault and was averaging 122 MPH on his first serves.

Even Federer—one of the best players in the sport's history—was impressed with the Croatian's performance, according to ESPN's Howard Bryant:

However, the one weakness is his significant drop from his first serve to second. Obviously, this is common for all players, but he is almost unbeatable when he gets his first serve in play. He has to work hard to keep this a common theme throughout the finals match so as not to give Nishikori any window of opportunity.

So far at the U.S. Open, Cilic has only topped 60 percent accuracy in two of his six matches. If he can top this mark against Nishikori, he should be able to hold his serve almost every time out.

Keep Unforced Errors Down

While this is an obvious strategy for every tennis match, it has been a concern for Cilic in the past. Even in this tournament, the 25-year-old player has had more unforced errors than winners in four of his six matches.

Altogether, the No. 14 seed has 223 unforced errors, including 76 in the fourth round against Gilles Simon.

Cilic has found a way to cut down his mistakes over the past two matches, which is a major reason he was able to defeat two elite opponents without dropping a set. However, this will have to keep up into the final if he wants to come away with a victory.

The talented player has the ability to bring home his first Grand Slam title, but he has to make sure not to beat himself.

Note: Stats courtesy of ATPWorldTour.com and USOpen.org.

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