Marin Cilic of Croatia poses with his trophy after defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan in their men's singles final match at the 2014 U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, September 8, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Fourteenth-seeded Marin Cilic surprised that sporting world of tennis after he crushed Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the finals of the recently concluded 2014 US Open. It was Cilic’s first-ever Grand Slam title. In the early rounds, Cilic defeated Marcos Baghdatis, Illya Marchenko, Kevin Anderson, and Simon Gilles. From then on, everything went smoothly as he beat Tomas Berdych and upset Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and semifinals, correspondingly. Cilic won the title against 10th-seeded Nishikori. It was the second Grand Slam title that his home turf Croatia has had after his coach Goran Ivanisevic’s 2001 Wimbledon title. REUTERS

Marin Cilic swept aside the Japanese Kei Nishikori in straight sets for his first Grand Slam title at the US Open. Cilic became the second player aide from the big four - Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic - to take home a Grand Slam title this decade.

Cilic's first ever Grand Slam title came after the world no. 4 Stan Wawrinka won the Australian Open earlier this year.

Apart from placing himself into the history books of tennis, the Croatian tennis superstar also won US$3 million for his victory at the US Open in New York, which doubled his 2014 career earnings to US$5.8 million.

Throughout his career, the 25-year-old has now earned US$12.2 million in prize money, which is not bad for his relatively young age in professional tennis. He is hailed as the third biggest ATP 2014 prize money earner, but his career earnings only make him the 15th biggest, which is still a long way off the fortunes accumulated by Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic.

On the other hand, although losing the title to Cilic, Nishikori is the first Asian to reach a Grand Slam final race ahead of the Croatian in terms of sponsorship. The premier Japanese athlete has become an endorsement magnet and a sponsor's dream after writing tennis history.

Meanwhile, less than a week after bagging the US Open title, the 25-year-old Cilic leads Croatia at the Davis Cup, wherein he completed a dream week by winning the crucial fifth rubber of the playoff to give his team a 3-2 victory over the Netherlands.

Cilic trumped Thiemo de Bakker in Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 7-5 then won another double with Mari Draganja.

"It was extremely good tennis and I'm extremely happy to be back in the World Group with my team," Cilic said in court according a report in Reuters. "We have a young team and we're only going to be able to improve."

The 2005 champion Croatia comes back after a year of absence and will be joined by Australia and Belgium in the World Group, while US will tie against Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Slovakia.

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