Borna Coric saved six match points to upset fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4) on Louis Armstrong Stadium after four hours and 36 minutes in the best match so far at this year’s edition of the US Open reaching the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the second time in three years.
Tsitsipas was leading 5-1 in the fourth set and was very close to winning the match, but he wasted six match points in the ninth and tenth games. The match featured 112 winners and 92 unforced errors. Coric converted six of his 13 break points and saved 10 of the 15 break points.
Both players traded breaks in the opening games of the first set and went on serve en route to the tie-break. Tsitsipas cruised to the tie-break to 7-2 after Coric made a a backhand error.
Coric took a medical time-out after the tie-break and received treatment on his neck and his right shoulder.
In the second set dropped five points on the first serve and earned six break point chances. Coric converted his third set point at 5-4 when Tsitsipas made a forehand error.
Both players went on serve in the first eight games of the third set. Tsitsipas reeled off 12 of the last 14 points breaking Coric at love at 4-4. The young Greek player served for the set and forced Coric’s serve to win it 6-4.
Tsitsipas broke twice in the first and fifth games to race out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set. Coric pulled one break back in the eighth game. Coric faced six match points, but he saved two chances on serve in the ninth game forcing Tsitsipas to serve for the win.
Tsitsipas took a 40-0 lead in the tenth game, but he wasted all four match points. Coric earned a break with a volley to draw level to 5-5 and clinched a hard-fought fourth set with a return winner in the 12th game.
Both players in the fifth and sixth games in the fifth set. Tsitsipas wasted four break points in the ninth and eleventh games before Coric sealed the tie-break 7-4 after a loose forehand from Tsitsipas.
Two days earlier Coric rallied from two sets to one to beat Juan Ignacio Londero.
“I have to be honest and say that I was really lucky. I made some unbelievable returns and I was a bit lucky at the end. In the third and fourth set, he was playing unbelievable tennis and I felt like I had no chance. In the fifth set tie-break I knew it was not going to be easy for him, so I tried to just keep the ball in court and make as many balls as possible”, said Coric.
Coric set up a fourth round match against Australia’s Jordan Thompson, who Mikhail Kukushkin 7-5 6-4 6-1 to reach the fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
Coric is aiming at reaching his first career quarter final at a Grand Slam tournament.
