Marin Cilic through in Rome as Santiago Giraldo retires

Marin Cilic advanced to the second round of the Rome Masters this afternoon thanks to the retirement of opponent Santiago Giraldo.

The Croatian was already a set and a break up when Giraldo called it a day 6-4 2-0 down.

In the first set it was Giraldo who got off to a better start, breaking Cilic in the third game before moving ahead 4-2.

It went downhill from there though and Cilic reeled off four games in a row to claim the set before again breaking the Colombian at the start of the second.

Up next in the last 32 for Cilic is Austria's Jurgen Melzer.