With a significant number of top players either still sidelined or recently sidelined for various reasons, opportunities about for guys who find themselves lower in the rankings. Wimbledon was a good example of that, and then Pablo Carreno Busta won the Montreal Masters.
An even more improbable result could happen at the Western & Southern Open on Sunday afternoon. Nobody could have predicted that Borna Coric would be in the final of a Masters 1000 tournament this summer, but that is exactly the case.
The Croat missed more than a year from February 2021 until March 2022 because of a shoulder injury. He was 4-8 at the ATP level this season heading into Cincinnati. At No. 152 in the world, he obviously had to use a protected ranking to get into the main draw.
Talk about a good use of PR entry! The rest is history, as Coric defeat Lorenzo Musetti, Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Cameron Norrie to reach Sunday’s final. In those five matches, only Nadal managed to take a set. Since dropping the second set to the 22-time Grand Slam champion, Coric has won seven consecutive sets without even requiring a single tiebreaker.
Standing in the 25-year-old’s way of the title is Stefanos Tsitsipas in what will be their third career meeting. The head-to-head series stands at 1-1, with Tsitsipas advancing by first-set retirement at the 2018 Rome Masters before Coric won perhaps the wildest match the empty-stadium era during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the 2020 U.S. Open, Tsitsipas led two sets to one and 5-1 in the fourth and had six match points only to see Coric storm back for a 6-7(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) victory.
Tsitisipas is the match wins leader on tour this season, but his Grand Slam performances have been mostly disappointing. That combined with recent inconsistency have him four spots lower than his best-ever ranking, currently at No. 7 in the world. The 24-year-old Greek has gotten back on track this week with defeats of Filip Krajinovic, Diego Schwartzman, John Isner, and Daniil Medvedev.
Although Coric has to be fatigued amidst his busiest week in years, Tsitsipas is coming off consecutive three-setters and he also reached the doubles semifinals. It’s not like the No. 4 seed is fresh.
Coric has hands down been the best player so far in Cincinnati and there is no reason why he can’t cap off his amazing run in perfect fashion.
Pick: Coric in 3
WWW?
Coric in three
Coric’s great serving plus Tsitsi’s dodgy returning should decide it. Plus Coric has the better backhand.
Hope he beats the Brat.
Coric just has “the look” this week…I saw it against Rafa….he’s just dialed in. Coric in 2.
Coric beating so many players does put Rafa’s loss in perspective. Actually Rafa did better than others ie FAA and Norris who were beaten in straights.
N Rafa actually could have won in straights..he had sp in first set
Rafa had two set points in the first set tb. They were easy shots as he admitted. He should have won that first set. Rafa said he realized he was not ready. Now he knows what he has to work on to get ready for the USO.
Vamos Rafa!
Look man, Rafa was handling Coric with ease based on what I saw in spite if his injury!!! Like I said in other thread, Coric would not taken a set from Rafa if Rafa was fit!! I’m shocked Coric won the whole tournament………it just says way more about the current field than Rafa”s fitness or lack there of!! I mean seriously? Meddy, Carlos or Tsistipas couldn’t win this?!! This is a big joke!!
I agree. Coric has a record of 5-8 this year. So where was he suddenly able to beat all these top ten guys? He was out for a year with shoulder surgery.
Meddy looked lousy in his match with Tsitsipas. Twelve double faults? Then what on earth happened to Tsitsipas in the final against Coric? He was blanked in the first set tb. Did not win a point. Then in the second set he let a shot from Coric go without even trying to return it. He just seemed to stop competing. Norrie beat Alcaraz in a tough 3 setter. Then he crapped out against Coric.
What is going on with these guys?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
So I’ve decided to go to the US Open after my first time since 2008! Let’s hope Rafa does well there and makes it worth my whole, lol!
Cool story to see Coric come back and perform so well this week. The tour needs another challenger to the throne.