US Open 2014 Men's Final: Recap and Results from Kei Nishikori vs. Marin Cilic

A most surprising 2014 U.S. Open men's final saw 14th-seeded Marin Cilic defeat No. 10 Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York.

Cilic defeated Roger Federer with ease in just his second appearance in a Grand Slam semifinal, while Nishikori made history as the first Asian-born man to make a major final. He had upset Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and top seed Novak Djokovic to get here.    

Cilic thanked Goran Ivanisevic after his match via Live Tennis: 

"

Cilic thanks Ivanisevic. 'The most important thing he brought to me was joy in tennis.' pic.twitter.com/VFmmvirqby

— Live Tennis (@livetennis) September 8, 2014"

In the spirit of this week's kickoff to the NFL season, Australian bookmaker TAB spokesman Matt Jenkins summarized just how long the odds were for Nishikori and Cilic to meet in Monday's final.

"The Nishikori-Cilic final is about as unlikely as the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars meeting in this season's Super Bowl," said Jenkins, per ESPN.com's Darren Rovell.

Chris Chase of USA Today offered more context:

As unlikely as this matchup was, it ended in a rather lopsided outcome. Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times alluded to the only juncture in the match in which Cilic faced a true test:

ESPN's Chris Fowler became a believer when Cilic topped Tomas Berdych, Federer and Nishikori in straight sets to end his magical U.S. Open title run:

Serving was the big story, as Cilic routinely smashed first serves and still had enough pace on his second offerings to win 61 percent of second-serve points.

A failure to convert first serves left Nishikori in spots of bother, and he needed supreme footwork just to stay alive in most rallies because of it. Nishikori won a poor 55 percent of his first-serve points compared to 80 for Cilic, and he only hit 51 percent of his first serves in play.

FiveThirtyEight's Carl Bialik pointed out how Cilic's returning ability may be underrated due to his massive power:

The end of the second set was a good example of this, when Cilic was finally broken.

Christopher Clarey of The New York Times offered his analysis at that point:

Nishikori couldn't deliver enough on his serves to prevent Cilic from closing things out at 6-3, though. He blew an overhead at 30-30 in that game. On the next point, he saw Cilic mash his backhand slice up the line for a set-clinching forehand winner.

The decisive frame didn't offer much suspense or more than a modicum of hope that Nishikori could come back other than a tense 4-2 game in the third set in which Cilic was pushed to deuce twice on his serve.

Now the talented Cilic has become a Grand Slam champion amid a topsy-turvy tournament that saw a slew of upsets but still crowned a worthy winner in the end. Cilic came out firing and utilized his superior power on the hard-court surface to build a big lead that Nishikori couldn't put much of a dent in.

Renowned tennis coach and analyst Brad Gilbert weighed in on the match:

It appeared Nishikori was a bit drained and couldn't maintain the improved fitness that helped him reach Monday's match. The larger Cilic displayed great court coverage and put himself in better position on a consistent basis, forcing Nishikori to scramble from baseline to baseline in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

FiveThirtyEight outlined the implications of Cilic's victory and how it pertains to 2012 U.S. Open champion Andy Murray:

There have been some outliers in recent years, but the Grand Slams have been dominated by the biggest stars in Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Rafael Nadal, who wasn't in the U.S. Open field.

ESPN's John Buccigross highlighted that fact in his pre-match tweet:

This win by Cilic—and even the run Nishikori made—should inspire hope to those players hoping to challenge the game's all-time greats in this highly competitive era.

With the combination of power and nimbleness Cilic displayed, if he can put those aspects of his game together more often, he has all the tools to be a legitimate superstar. After he fell short of earlier expectations and finally broke through on Monday, though, it remains to be seen whether Cilic has the will to be a truly elite player.

Despite falling short, Nishikori's conquest of players such as Raonic, Wawrinka and Djokovic may be the fuel he needs to push his game a bit further and contend in majors more often.

Match stats courtesy of USOpen.org.