20-year-old Borna Coric silenced the crowd at the Winston Salem Open on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-2, win over third seed John Isner.
The world No.62 proved too strong for his lacklustre opponent, who only managed to win 40% of his second service points. Capitalising on Isner’s declining form, Coric surged to victory without dropping his serve during the 77-minute encounter.
“The first set — there were a couple opportunities for him,” he told journalnow.com. “…It was very exhausting, and that’s what I thought, that he might get a little bit low on energy.”
Wednesday win brings to an end a series of disappointing results for the Croat. Since defeating Andy Murray at the Madrid Open in May, Coric has failed to win back-to-back matches in seven consecutive tournaments. Overall, he was 16-19 this season going into Winston Salem this week.
“I think I was returning very good today,” Coric said. “It was one of the best returns I have ever played I would say. Also, I think he wasn’t serving at his best, definitely.”
“It does give me some extra confidence, also for the next tournaments, which is extremely important because I think confidence is one of the most important things in tennis,” he later added.
This week Coric is seeking his maiden ATP title on a hard-court and his second overall after the 2017 Marrakech Open. Awaiting him in the quarter-finals will be unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff. Struff defeated Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(3) in his third round match.
Bautista Agut progresses
Top seed Roberto Bautista Agut booked his place in the last eight with a straightforward 6-3, 6-4, win over Marcos Baghdatis. The Spanish world No.15 raced to a set and 4-1 lead before Baghdatis managed to get his first break of the match.
“It was a tough match against Baghdatis,” Bautista Agut said. “I thought I had control of the match at 6-3, 4-1 and serving.”
Still, it was not enough to tame the top seed, who held his nerve to close the match out in straight sets.
Bautista Agut will next play wild card entrant Taylor Fritz. The American edged out seventh seed Paolo Lorenzi in two tiebreakers.
“It feels good,” said Fritz, who will play in only his second ATP Tour quarter-final of the season. “Today was a really tough match. I had a lot of chances to close it out, but I did a really good job of taking my chances on his serve to break.”
The upcoming clash will be the second meeting between the two. Last year Bautista Agut triumphed 6-4, 6-4, in their first encounter at the Shanghai Masters.
The last 8:
🇺🇲Johnson v. 🇬🇧Edmund (3pm)
🇧🇦Dzumhur v. 🇰🇷Chung (follows)
🇪🇦Bautista Agut v. 🇺🇲Fritz (7pm)
🇨🇷Coric v. 🇩🇪Struff (follows)— Winston-Salem Open (@WSOpen) 24 August 2017
